Trust
by AJ92
Summary: This is the third part to my Sierra Miller series. There is a serial killer on the loose and the Hamato clan have to figure out who is behind it or else their family and friends could be in danger. All this is happening while the second generation Hamatos try to have a life of their own. They're going to have to find out who they can and can't trust.
1. Prologue

**Okay before you start reading this, I have a couple things to say.**

 **-This is the third story of a series. You'll have to read the first two in order to know all of the characters and to understand what is going on.**

 **-There are quite a few characters in here so bear with me.**

 **-This is centered around the 2003 series.**

 **Now that I got that out of the way. Have a short prologue.**

* * *

? POV

 ** _Trust is such an interesting thing._**

"Oh boy, that was great." this young woman standing beside me said excitedly as we walked along the empty, New York sidewalk. The light breeze blew her blonde hair away from her face revealing more of her round, bright green eyes. "You sure know how to show a lady a good time," she walked up to an apartment door and slipped a key into the lock.

 ** _Trust is very difficult to build._**

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Traci." I told her, giving her a wry smile.

She opened the door to the apartment building "Would you like to come inside? We could continue where we left off." she gave me a seductive grin to try and beckon me into her home.

I nodded and followed her into the building. We climbed two flights of stairs before coming to another door. After she unlocked that door, she grabbed my hand and led me inside her one bedroom apartment. "Alright, sit and relax while I put on something a little more comfortable."

"I'll be waiting." I said as I sat down on her couch. I took off my hat and quickly pat at my pockets just to make sure I had what I needed.

 ** _And very easy to destroy._**

A few minutes later Traci walked back out in her skimpy, black lingerie. I looked up at her and gave another smile. "Nice." I said simply. She waltzed up to me and sat on my lap. She started to place soft warm kisses to my neck and cheek. Before she got to my lips, I stopped her.

 ** _So not everyone can be trusted. Unless you want to get hurt._**

"Why don't we take this to the bedroom?" I asked her and she smiled

"Yes, let's." she said. She took my hand and led me to her room.

 ** _Yes, trust is a very interesting thing._**

* * *

 **There's the prologue. The actual chapter will be coming soon.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Here's the actual chapter. Enjoy.**

 **BTW this story takes place roughly ten years after 'Are You My Daddy'**

* * *

Chapter 1

"Another murder?" Raph asked as he approached the couch. Leo, Don and Mikey sat on the couch as they listened to the latest news.

Leo sighed "Yeah, looks like it."

" _27 year old, Traci Stevens was found dead earlier tonight inside her apartment. She was stripped of all clothing and then stabbed several times in the chest."_ the reporter stated. " _This makes her the sixth victim of this brutal attack in the last two months. Authorities are encouraging everyone to stay indoors after a certain time..."_

Don took the remote and turned the TVs off "Six victims in two months. All killed the same way."

"Damn, we need to do something about this." Raph exclaimed. "Our families are in danger."

"I know." Leo answered.

"At least they have a better chance at surviving. They can actually protect themselves." Mikey said trying to think positive. "And whoever is doing this doesn't seem to have anything against us personally."

"You do have a point, but that means people are being attacked at random, as far as we know. That still puts them in danger. And besides, we can't just sit here and do nothing." Raph said.

"Raph's right. It's not like us to sit around and do nothing." Leo agreed. "Let's go check things out later."

The four brothers silently agreed just as the doors to the lair opened up. "Hey Pop," Mason shouted as he walked into the lair with a small child in his arms. Erica followed holding her own little bundle in her arms.

"Hey, my grand kids are here." Mikey said excitedly as he flipped over the back of the couch. He went over to his two children and took the child away from Mason first. "Hiya, Skylar."

"Hi, gr'mpa." Skylar happily replied wrapping her tiny arms around his neck. Mikey pushed the two year old's raven black hair out of her face and straightened out her favorite princess t-shirt.

"Where's your brother?" Mikey asked taking his other granddaughter, Mya, from Erica.

"He's back at our place with Jessie and Trevor." Erica said. "Don't expect him to show up tonight."

"How's he holding up?" Mikey asked worriedly

"He's been better." Mason sighed frustrated at his brother's current situation. "I can't believe that this happened to him."

"I know, but your brother is a tough kid. He'll get through this." Mikey reassured.

"I hope so. Anyway, Pop what's going on topside?" Mason said. "I saw the beginning of the news before we left."

"Let's not discuss it in front of the kids." Mikey said. "We are going to see what we can find out, though."

"Cool, I'm in." Mason said then turned to Raphael "Hey Uncle, since we're already here do you think Kylie would mind watching Skylar and Mya?"

"I don't see why she would care." Raph shrugged "I'll tell Kylie about it later."

"Tell me what later?" Kylie asked walking out of her room.

"You wanna babysit?"

She rubbed her eyes as if she just woke up and hopped down to the lower levels "Yeah sure, fine with me." she said in a tired tone.

"Were you sleeping?" Mason asked.

Kylie shrugged "Just a power nap. I was up for a long time last night." Raph gave her an odd look. "I was talking to Amber. We had a lot to talk about." she shrugged again. She took her hair band off her wrist and put her red hair up in a sloppy bun.

"Okay, are you sure you're up to it."

She waved her hand in careless motion. "Yeah, yeah, I got it." she headed toward the kitchen, "Besides, I got Xavier, Danielle and Takashi. So go, have fun. Find that psychopath that's running around." Kylie had become the much calmer twin as she got older, compared to her extra hotheaded, Raphael carbon copy, older brother.

"Where is RJ?" Raph called from the living room.

"I don't know. I don't keep track of him anymore." Kylie called back.

"Alright, so when we go out we also have a kid to look for." Leo brought up.

"Yep looks like it." Don responded. "Of course it's your son we're looking for."

Raph smiled "Shut up, Donnie."

* * *

 **Another short chapter, but things pick up a little after this.**

 **Read and review.**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 _Later that night_

The Hamato clan now consisting of the turtles, Sierra, Melanie, Vanessa, Paige, Mason and Erica were all moving along the rooftops heading toward the destination they heard about on the news. They needed to see if they could figure out what was happening and they also had to try and find RJ.

"Do you have any idea where RJ might be?" Paige asked.

"Either he's taking out some purple dragons somewhere or he's at the crime scene." Raph responded. Sure enough as soon as they got to the apartment complex where the murder took place they saw a young red haired turtle just hanging out.

"Well that was easy enough." Don said when they spotted RJ sitting on the edge of a building looking down at the blinking red and blue lights.

"Had a feeling we'd find you here, hon." Melanie approached her son.

"Oh yeah, how'd you know?" RJ responded in a gruff voice that could rival his father's.

"Because you always seem to find trouble." Raph said,

"I wonder where I got that from?" RJ asked with a sarcastic smile. Raph glared at him. "And besides, it's not like I was going to get involved." he continued to stare until he saw a familiar face among the officers. "Hey, isn't that Michael?"

"Yeah, sit tight. I'll be right back." Mikey volunteered.

"I'll go with you." Vanessa offered.

Mikey and Vanessa kept to the shadows as they made their way to the alley below and waited for the right opportunity. Once they saw Michael walk by the alley Mikey whistled, signaling him. Michael turned his head toward the alley, before looking to the other officers making sure they weren't paying attention. Once it was clear he walked into the alley. "Hey guys," Michael greeted. "What's up?

"What's going on, Mike?" Vanessa asked. "What do you know?" Michael had been promoted to detective a few years ago so if anyone would know anything about the current situation it would be him.

Michael chuckled "Now you know I can't discuss that with you guys." he responded jokingly.

"Come on, Mike." Mikey said. "It's not like you haven't done this before."

"Okay, okay. I had a look around the place. No fingerprints, no weapon left behind, not even a blood trail."

"So he cleaned up after himself?"

"Yes and pretty thoroughly, too ." Mike continued. "And another thing, inside there were no signs of a struggle. Which probably meant that the victim let the killer in, most likely without knowing."

"Just like the others." Mikey finished.

"Now, there's a scary thought." Vanessa shivered.

"Yeah, so for right now we're just going to check the lobby surveillance video and see what we can get the landlord to tell us." Mike explained. "We'll also hopefully find something during the autopsy."

"Hey, Mike." a voice called suddenly. "Where are you?"

Michael turned toward the voice. "Crap, that's my partner."

"We'll see what we can do on our end. Keep us updated." Vanessa said quickly.

"Of course, Nessa. Now get out of here."

"Mike?" the voice was louder.

"I'm right here." he said while walking out of the alley.

"What were you doing?" his partner, Henry, asked. Henry raised a dark eyebrow at him.

"Just checking around the perimeter, maybe the killer left something behind."

Henry stroked his graying beard in thought. "Did you find anything?"

"Nah, let's just head back to the station with what we have."

Michael walked by him towards his car and Henry followed suit.

Back up on the rooftop Vanessa and Mikey met up with everyone else. "Well, what've you got?" Sierra asked.

"They haven't figured out much." Mikey said.

"Whoever it is, is way too thorough." Vanessa finished.

"So, what now?" RJ asked.

* * *

 _Back at the lair_

"When are you ever going to come down here to visit me?" Kylie whined to her friend over the phone.

"Girl please, you know my dad isn't letting me out of the house while there's a serial killer on the loose." Amber responded. Kylie could hear her shuffling around her room, most likely getting ready for school in the morning. "And there's no way I'm going out there at night. That would be stupid. I'm tough, but I don't think I'm tough enough if I happen to run into this person."

"But I get so bored." Kylie whined some more. She grabbed a blanket and walked to her room. "I didn't say you had to come down here at night, just in general because I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

"Then come up here. You lazy ninja."

"Hey! I'm not lazy." Kylie exclaimed before walking into her room where Skylar and Mya were laying on her bed, sleeping soundly. She covered them up and walked back out.

"Please everyone knows that out of every member of your family you are the laziest."

Kylie thought about this for a while "Okay yeah, you might be right." after leaving the door open a crack she headed back down to the lower levels of the lair.

"Might be?" Amber asked sarcastically.

"Okay, you made your point." Kylie said only slightly annoyed. She headed for the couch with a heavy sigh "I'll come to you. I'll even bring Dani." she sat down next to Xavier who was already flipping through all the channels on their many TVs.

"Yay! Anyway how's RJ?" Amber asked suddenly.

"He's fine, I guess. Why?" she responded with another question.

"No reason. Just curious."

"Ew! Gross!"

"What?" Amber said startled.

"Do you like him?" Xavier stopped channel surfing and looked to his older cousin.

"What? No I don't." Amber nearly yelled.

"Oh my God, you so do."

"Shut up! I don't."

"Then why didn't you ask how anyone else was doing? Why just RJ?" Kylie asked. The truth was Kylie knew that Amber had the biggest crush on her older brother. It was painfully obvious how much she liked him. Whenever she came to the lair she would always find a reason to talk to him or just be around him. At first it was weird to watch her best friend swoon over her brother, but after a while she got over it. In all honesty, compared to the other guys that she dated, RJ, admittedly wasn't all that bad. She also happened to know that Raphie had a thing for her, but that didn't stop Kylie from having a little fun.

"I don't know. Why are you hounding me?" Amber asked defensively.

Kylie snickered "Cause it's fun." she mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Gotta go. Bye!" with that she hung up. Just then Danielle and Takashi walked out of the dojo and joined them. "Hey guys."

"Hey." Danielle greeted as she let her brown hair fall down past her shoulders.

"Are you actually watching this?" Takashi spoke up when he noticed that the channel Xavier stopped on was some history channel.

"No, because I found the conversation that Kylie was having way more interesting." Xavier admitted. "Who likes RJ?

Danielle and Takashi both looked to Kylie. "Oh, Amber does."

"Oh, that's it?" Xavier shrugged. "I thought it was someone else."

"Who else do I talk to, X?" Kylie asked.

"Good point."

"Wait. Hold on. What?" Takashi asked. "Amber actually likes RJ?"

The other teens in the room looked at him. "Yeah, it's kind of obvious." Danielle said.

"I thought you knew." Xavier said confused.

"No, no I didn't."

Danielle giggled "You gotta start paying more attention to things like that. You're a teenager, there's more to life then just training, little brother." she gave him an affectionate pat on the head before standing up. "Well, I'm gonna take a shower."

"I think I'm gonna turn in early tonight. You got Sky and Mya, right?" Xavier asked.

"Yeah, I got them."

"Alright, goodnight." he stood up and headed for his room.

"Night." Kylie replied simply.

"Goodnight." Takashi said with a slightly grouchy tone.

Kylie looked over to him and noticed he was slouching in his seat "Hey, T." his brown eyes immediately looked to Kylie. "You know, it's not that big of deal that you didn't know about that."

"Yeah, I know." Takashi sighed and stood up. "Goodnight."

"Night." Kylie smiled slightly and shook her head.

* * *

I feel like there's quite a bit to process, but like I said earlier. Bear with me.

Read and Review.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next day, Amber was heading for the exit of the high school after a long and hard day of learning. She couldn't wait to get home. It was the only place she really liked being. It also helped that her best friends, Danielle and Kylie, would be coming to her house for the weekend.

"Hey Amber," a bouncing brunette girl stopped next to her.

Amber flinched at the sudden sound. "Oh, hey Toni. What's up?" Toniann Watson has been Amber's best friend since elementary school. Toni was the first human friend she ever made when she moved to New York. Toni was always the more outgoing, party girl while Amber was more of the shy, introverted type. They couldn't be more different if they tried, but that didn't stop them from being friends.

"I just wanted to invite you to a party tonight." Toni told her excitedly, her green eyes sparkling.

Amber gave her an odd look. "Really?" she asked her bouncing friend.

"Yep." Toni answered swiftly. "So how about it?" Toni asked again.

Amber sighed, she really couldn't stand big house parties. They were never her thing the only time she actually went was when she was really desperate and bored or she just couldn't say no to Toni, but this time she would because she had other things to do. "Nah, I can't do that. I'm too busy."

"You're always busy." Toni whined. "What are you doing that's so important?"

"Well, we are seniors now, Toni. I'm kind of focusing on what college I'm going to." was the quick excuse she used.

"You can do that whenever. Take a day off, come and party."

Amber rolled her eyes. Sometimes it's hard being friends with a party girl. "Most of this was supposed to be done last year. I have to get this done soon."

"Fine, I'll just go by myself."

"Okay, you do that."

Toni pouted "Oh, come on. Everyone is going to be there."

"Yeah, everyone except me. I'm sorry T, maybe next time." Amber continued toward the exit with a pouting Toni now right next to her. "Why don't you bring your boyfriend?" Amber suggested.

"Who? Logan?" she questioned.

"Yeah, he is your boyfriend, isn't he?" Amber asked.

"Yeah," she sighed. "But I don't want to bring him."

Amber shrugged. "Alright then, I guess you're on your own then tonight."

They got outside and headed downstairs, but before she could make it to the bottom step a boy around her age, rounded the corner and stood in her way.

"Hi Amber." his shaky voice greeted.

Amber stood frozen. "Uh, hi Ryan." Amber greeted as politely as possible. Ryan was another student at her school. Every once in a while he would pop up out of nowhere, block her path and ask her random questions. He had pale skin, messy brown hair and beady little eyes that really creeped her out. No one wanted to talk to this guy so they all tried to avoid him as much as possible. Amber was the only one that really talked to him and even then it wasn't that often. She would always try to be nice to him, but he just gave off these bad vibes that made Amber feel very uncomfortable. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine." he started rubbing his hands together as if nervous about something. His dark eyes darted back and forth between Amber and the people on the busy sidewalk. "What are you doing this weekend?"

"Um, I'll be working." Amber stated vaguely.

"Oh." he said simply. "Well... if your schedule clears up. Maybe you can come with me."

"Uh... come with you where?" she asked and she wasn't really sure why she asked.

He didn't answer and walked away. "Holy crap, that was so weird." Toni said as soon as he was out of ear shot.

"Yeah, how do you think I felt?" she continued down the stairs and started for home.

"Why is he talking to you? What did you say to him?"

"Well, I'm the only one who is not a complete ass to him, so maybe that's the reason."

"Why are you so nice to him?"

"I don't know, it kind of just happened. We have some of the same classes and he sits next to me. He started talking to me, so naturally I started talking to him."

"You haven't gone anywhere with him, have you?" Toni asked cautiously.

"No, and I don't plan on it."

"Good, the last thing I want is for my best friend to end up dead in an alley somewhere."

"I can guarantee you, that will not happen."

* * *

 _Back down in the sewers_

Dirk was lying on the couch of their lair with a baby monitor in his hands. He could hear the faint sound of his daughter breathing softly as she napped. Dirk sighed and shut his eyes.

It had been about five months since May got up and walked out of his and Isabelle's life.

 _Five months ago_

 _Dirk was in the kitchen fixing a bottle for his infant daughter when May walked in._

 _"Dirk." she called to get his attention._

 _He turned to see the red haired woman that was his long time girlfriend. "Hey babe." he said with a small smile. "What's up?"_

 _"Can we talk?" she asked and Dirk immediately noticed the sudden serious tone in her voice._

 _"Um... sure." Dirk sat down at the kitchen table and May followed suit. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't like this feeling._

 _"Dirk, I can't stay here anymore." she finally said after what felt like hours._

 _He felt like his heart had been ripped in half. He didn't really hear anything after that, everything sounded muffled. 'Oh my God, she's leaving me. This isn't happening.' he thought._

 _"Dirk?... Dirk?"_

 _He blinked at the sound of his name. "What?" he asked with slight venom in his voice._

 _"I think we should take a break." he heard her say._

 _"Take a break?" Dirk repeated. "Are you kidding me?" he snapped, furious. He loved her and he thought she loved him._

 _"Come on, Dirk. Don't be like that." May pleaded with him._

 _"Don't be like what? Upset, angry, frustrated, how about all of the above. I trusted you, I loved you and this is what you do."_

 _"I just feel like my life is moving too fast."_

 _"Too fast? What are you talking about?"_

 _"After your brother and sister got married, I've been feeling pressured by you to do the same."_

 _"When have I ever pressured you into doing anything? All I did was ask if you wanted to get married someday and you avoided the question." he yelled "It's not like if you said yes I would have immediately popped the question right then and there. I knew you weren't ready."_

 _"But with all the marriage talk and the fact that we have a baby now..."_

 _"Wait... are you blaming your own daughter for your unhappiness?" he interrupted. He took a breath to calm his rattled nerves. "Look, sometimes things don't go as planned and Isabelle was definitely not planned, but she's here now."_

 _"I know, but..." she paused trying to think of the words to say. Dirk was ready for any excuse she had. "I just need time to find myself."_

 _Dirk rolled his eyes at the lame excuse. He knew exactly what "I need to find myself" really meant. "Well, you sure picked a hell of a time to do that. You are in a relationship and need I remind you that you have a CHILD! Forget about me, but you can't leave your kid behind."_

 _May was starting to get angry as well. "I know I have a child, but I can do whatever the hell I want." she yelled._

 _Dirk gave her an odd look then smirked. She was the one leaving, she was abandoning her child, but she was the one getting angry. That was stupid logic, but fighting with her clearly wasn't working. "I've done everything I could for you, I guess it wasn't enough. So fine, leave."_

 _May looked surprised at that. "Go! Go pack all of your stuff and leave. Go ahead and find yourself." he added air quotes around the last part. "Izzy doesn't need a mother like you." He walked over to the bottle warmer, that had most definitely stopped warming at this point, took the bottle out and went to leave the kitchen, but before he actually left he said one more thing. "I expect that you'll be gone in the next few hours."_

 _"Next few hours?" she exclaimed. "That's not enough time."_

 _"That's more than enough time since the only things that you own are your clothes. You can fit all of that in a few suitcases. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a child to take care of." with that he left her alone in the kitchen and headed for the baby's room._

 _When he got there, Erica, who was watching over little Isabelle and Mya, looked up at him with sad eyes. "I guess you heard that, huh?" he asked._

 _Erica only stood up and hugged him. "I'm sorry."_

 _Dirk hugged her back. "Don't be sorry, baby sis. I'll be fine." he separated from her and went to sit next to Isabelle. She was playing with blocks and was completely oblivious to what was going on. "Hey Izzy, time to eat." he placed her on his lap and handed her the bottle, with his help, she began to drink. As he watched her, he smiled and silently promised "I won't ever leave you. I swear."_

Dirk opened his eyes and looked to see Jessica standing over him. "Hey." she greeted.

"Hey, how are you?"

"I should be asking you that question."

Dirk sat up to make room for her. "I'm fine."

"She still on your mind?" she asked.

"Of course she is." he answered honestly. "She's all think about."

"I don't blame you, I'm sorry about this." Jessie said while placing a hand on his shoulder.

He sighed "Did she ever say anything to you about how she was feeling?" he was kind of hoping that maybe May had said something to her.

"Not at all. I would have said something to you."

Dirk thought for a second then shook his head. "I guess it wouldn't matter anyway, I'm pretty sure if you told me anything it wouldn't change her mind."

"I guess, but it didn't give her a right to just up and leave you and your daughter."

"Well, it happened and there's really nothing I can do." Dirk shrugged. "I'm just glad you guys are here to help me out when I need it."

"Hey, we're family and that's what family does."

* * *

Read and Review


	5. Chapter 4

**Alright, here you go.  
**

* * *

Chapter 4

The next night, Sierra walked into the lair with two other children. Emily, the eleven year old adopted daughter of Rico and Tony had straight, chestnut brown locks coming down to her shoulders and freckles dotting her pale face. Her large, green eyes explored the familiar area as she looked for her friends. David is Alex and Dimitri's ten year old son. He had slightly tanner skin than Emily's with short, honey blond hair and sea green eyes that seemed to have a hint of adventure and a little mischief.

"Malcolm, Austin," Sierra called "Your friends are here."

Both Austin and Malcolm came from upstairs and ran right for their only two human friends. "Hi guys." Austin greeted as Sierra headed toward the dojo.

"Come on, let's go play video games." Malcolm suggested.

"Okay." Emily agreed excitedly before grabbing both of their hands and heading for the game console by the TV. David followed close behind. "I call first player." Austin said as he grabbed the first controller.

"You were first last time." Malcolm complained. "It's my turn."

"No way." Austin said playing keep away with the controller.

Xavier looked up from the book he was reading when he realized a fight was about to start. "Hey, you two. That's enough." he stopped the fight before it could start. "Austin, were you first last time?"

"Yes." he said with his blue eyes cast downward.

"So, maybe you should let someone else have a chance." Xavier suggested in a big brotherly tone that he learned to use.

Austin sighed "Okay." he passed the controller to his cousin.

Xavier looked back down at his book and slipped his headphones on to listen to his music while the kids started up a racing game.

After a few hours of races and Austin winning most them they decided to try something else.

"What do you guys want to do now?" Malcolm asked.

"Hey, why don't we go exploring out in the sewers." David suggested.

"Yeah, let's do it." Austin agreed excitedly as they both headed for the front door.

"Are you sure?" Emily asked cautiously, knowing and understanding that her two mutant friends have to follow certain rules.

"Yeah, it's okay. We do it all the time."

Emily was still slightly skeptical, but followed them anyway "Okay."

Before they could even make it to the door they were stopped by a voice. "And where do you think you four are going?"

The four young children turned to see Donatello stepping out of his lab. Malcolm was the first to speak. "We were just going to explore the sewers, Dad."

"Really? That's it?" he asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice. All four nodded in response. "Alright go ahead, but stay close." and with that simple instruction they hurried out. But Don didn't let his suspicion just disappear. He knew these kids, he knew they were smart, but that didn't really stop him from worrying. He knew the risks of what might happen. Xavier got in trouble for sneaking above ground a few times when he was younger. On top of that, Don was once a young, curious mutant and a curious child often led to problems.

He walked over to his oldest son and tapped him on the head to get his attention. Xavier took his headphones off and looked up at his father. "What's up?"

"I need you to do me a favor." Don said.

"What is it?"

"I have some work that I need to get done so I need you to keep an eye on your brother and cousin, make sure they don't get hurt."

"Come on Dad, you don't trust them?" Xavier asked jokingly.

"I do, but then again I also trusted you not to get into any trouble when you were their age."

Xavier thought about this for a while before responding "Touché. I'll keep an eye on them." he said standing up and picking up his hanbo.

"Thank you." Don said before heading back to his lab.

Xavier sheathed his weapon and headed out the door.

Seconds later Danielle came downstairs and began searching for either one of her parents. "If I were my parents where would I be." she said quietly to herself. "Duh, the dojo." Danielle quickly headed towards the dojo and sure enough she found both of them sparring in hand to hand combat.

"Mom, Dad." she said interrupting their sparring match.

They both looked to her "Hey Dani." they greeted before getting right back into sparring "What's the matter hon?" Sierra asked blocking blow after blow.

"Is it okay if I go with Kylie to Amber's for a sleepover?"

"Yeah, sure." Leo answered as he flipped out of the way of a sweep kick. "You're taking the rooftops, right?"

"Of course."

"Take your weapons with you."

"I know, I know." Danielle said and went upstairs to grab a few things.

* * *

Back in the sewers the four children were laughing as they ran through the sewer tunnels. Malcolm and Austin would occasionally show off some of the moves that they learned from their ninja training. Their fun was soon halted when David stopped and looked up. The others stopped along with him and looked where he was looking. "Whatcha looking at?" Emily asked.

"Let's go up there." he pointed to the sewer lid right above them with a mischievous smile.

"What?" Emily questioned.

"Dave, you know we can't go up there." Austin said. "We'll get in trouble."

"Don't worry, we'll only go up there for a second." David started up the ladder. "We'll stay in the shadows. That's what you do right?"

"This really isn't a good idea, David." Malcolm stated the obvious. "Maybe we should just head back home." Now that he was pretty much being pressured into doing something he wasn't comfortable with, he really didn't want to be out here anymore.

"What? Are you guys chicken?"

"Don't do that." Emily said. "That's not fair."

"Forget you guys, I never get to see anything at night, so I'm going up." he continued to climb.

"David, wait." Austin started climbing up after him. He helped him move the heavy lid out of the way.

"Guys, wait for us." Malcolm started to follow only to be stopped by Emily.

"This isn't a good idea."

"I know, but we can't let them go alone."

Hesitantly Malcolm and Emily climbed out of the sewer and met up with Austin and David. "Come on guys, we really shouldn't be up here." David was just peeking around the corner of one of the buildings trying to take a glance at the city's nightlife. Austin wasn't too keen on trying the same thing.

"Yeah, let's go back." Austin agreed. "I don't like this."

"Too late for that, little freak." a voice hissed behind them.

* * *

 **And now I'll just end it right there.**

 **Let me know how I'm doing.**

 **Read and review.**


	6. Chapter 5

**And so it continues.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

All four instantly turned around and any and all fun washed away from David's face. In front of them stood about five Purple Dragons, holding onto chains and pipes. Emily hid behind Malcolm as they backed away from the gang members.

"What do you say guys?" One with a short, purple mohawk said with a sinister smile. "Take the humans as one of our own and kill the freaks."

The other four men cheered.

"Yeah."

"String 'em up for their parents to see."

The man with the mohawk grabbed Malcolm by the hair. "Who wants to get the first shot?" he offered up the crying half mutant to his friends. The two human children stood there frozen in place, terrified about what was happening. Austin, who was just as scared, ran toward him and began kicking the man in the leg in a failed attempt to make him release his cousin. It barely fazed him, but it did get his attention. He looked down at the blond haired mutant and laughed. "That all you got, freak." he laughed maniacally then kicked him away.

Austin's body hit a dumpster and he yelled out in pain. "Austin!" Malcolm cried as he tried to get to him, but was still being held back by the leader of the group.

"Shut up!" the man hissed and pulled harder on his hair causing Malcolm to yelp in pain. "No one is coming to save you now. We're going to kill you." Suddenly something smacked his hand making the dragon release his hold on the young mutant. The gang member withdrew his hand and rubbed it. "What the hell?" Xavier stepped out of the shadows and stood in front of the frightened children. Malcolm took the opportunity to move away from the dragons and hid behind his older brother.

"Are you guys seriously picking on children, right now. And I know I didn't hear you threaten to kill my little brother." Xavier spoke twirling his hanbo expertly.

"There's another one." he turned to his buddies and ordered "Get him."

All five of them charged at him with full intention of killing him. Xavier quickly sidestepped the first one and whacked him on the side of the head. He then proceeded to baseball slide underneath another one's legs and roundhouse kicked him into a wall. Xavier then blocked a random attack from a pipe with his hanbo. He brought his knee up into the gut of the purple dragon and as he doubled over, he brought his knee up again this time crushing his nose. Two to go. One grabbed him from behind and tried to put him in a choke hold. Xavier managed to block him by holding onto his arm and keeping the pressure away from his throat. "Quit struggling." the dragon commanded. Of course Xavier didn't listen and continued to make things difficult for him. Xavier brought his feet up to kick away the remaining dragon, then flipped the last one over his shoulder, throwing him into a dumpster.

He took a quick look around to make sure things were clear, before turning toward the cowering children. He pushed strands of hair out of his face. "Come on guys." he gestured for the kids to come out of hiding. He became worried when they didn't "Guys, what's wrong?"

Malcolm pointed over Xavier's shoulder. He turned and his head was met with a pipe. It didn't knock him out, but it did leave him pretty disoriented. He held his head where he had been struck and tried to shake the dizziness he was feeling as he looked up at his attacker. It was a Purple Dragon that he had already knocked down earlier and he was going to strike again. He held the pipe up and swung it downward towards his head. Lucky for Xavier the cavalry showed up just in time, in the form of Danielle and her kama. The brunette turtle easily sliced through the metal pipe and followed it up with a roundhouse kick. She sheathed her weapons once she was sure he was out cold.

"Hey, are you okay?" Danielle held out her hand.

"Ugh... yeah." he groaned as he accepted her hand and let her help him up. "Thanks cuz."

"No problem." she got a closer look at him and she could just make out a thin stream of blood coming from his head. She also noticed that he was a little unsteady on his feet. "Are you going to be okay? That looks pretty bad."

"I'm fine." he wiped the blood off his head before it got in his eye. "What are you doing out here anyway." he asked trying to get the attention off of him.

Danielle pointed up toward the rooftop where Kylie was waiting "We were heading to Amber's when we saw you." Danielle explained. "Are you going to be okay getting these guys home?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Alright, later." she hesitantly made her way back up to the roof with Kylie and they disappeared.

"Okay guys, let's get out of here." Xavier led the terrified children back underground.

After a few minutes of walking, Malcolm finally decided to speak. "Are you okay, X?" he asked as he latched onto his older brother's hand.

"I'm okay, little brother." Xavier lied because he was feeling a little woozy from that blow to the head, but he really didn't want them to panic anymore than they they already are.

"Are you sure?" he asked nervously. "You're bleeding."

Xavier gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'll make it. Dad will take care of me so don't worry."

The rest of the walk home was fairly quiet. When Xavier opened up the entrance way to the lair, Malcolm made a beeline for Donnie's lab. Don was working on his computer with Mikey standing over him, watching him. "Dad!" Don and Mikey turned at the sudden voice. "Come on!" Malcolm grabbed his father's hand and pulled on it.

"What's going on?" Don chuckled thinking his child was just excited about something he found.

"Xavier is hurt, come on you have to fix him."

Don quickly stood up and ran out the lab when he heard that. Mikey was close behind him. He found Xavier leaning heavily against a wall and holding the side of his head. "What happened, X?"

"I'm fine, Dad." Xavier said as Don began fussing over him.

"Fine? You're bleeding from your head." Don exclaimed.

Vanessa and Paige walked out of the kitchen with warm mugs of tea in their hands. "What's all the commotion out here?" Vanessa asked before her eyes landed on her wounded kid. "Oh God, what happened?" she quickly passed the mug off to Paige and ran up to him.

Xavier sighed and looked to the kids. David was staring at the floor guiltily, Emily was still sniffling and tearing up after the experience she had while Austin and Malcolm looked totally worried. Either because of what happened to Xavier or because of the trouble they were going to get into "They decided to take a little trip up top and got caught by Purple Dragons. I took care of them, but one got the jump on me. I got lucky because Danielle and Kylie happened to be nearby."

Don sighed and rubbed his head. "Take him to the lab and clean him up." he told Vanessa.

"Right." Vanessa led him into the lab while Don, Mikey and Paige focused on the young children.

"Malcolm, what were you thinking?" Don scolded. He was so glad that he went with his gut feeling and sent Xavier to watch them. He was afraid to think of what would happen if he hadn't. "You know better."

"You too, Austin." Mikey added. "You could've gotten hurt."

Both Malcolm and Austin gave a side glance toward David. "Sorry, Dad." they both responded. They were going to get in trouble for him.

"Just what were you thinking?" Paige continued.

David finally got the courage to speak up. "Wait, don't get mad at them." David spoke quickly, all the guilt he was feeling spilled out. He couldn't let his best friends take the heat for something that was his idea. "It's not their fault. I wanted to go and they were only trying to stop me. So yell at me."

Don crossed his arms and looked to his brother and sister. They shrugged and Don sighed. "Well, it's not really my place to yell at you, but I will be talking to your parents about this."

"I know and I'm really sorry." he apologized.

"Go on upstairs." Mikey shooed them away and all four headed upstairs. Don walked back into the lab as Vanessa was just finishing wrapping bandages around his head.

"How is he, nurse?" Don asked.

"He definitely has a concussion. He won't be doing much for a while."

Xavier groaned and laid back on the bed.

Don and Vanessa chuckled "Get some rest and I'll check on you in a couple hours."

"Yay." Xavier mumbled.

* * *

"There you guys are." Amber said when she opened the window. "What took you?"

"Sorry, we had to make a quick stop." Kylie said. "We're here now."

"Great, cause I have everything planned. You guys ready for a movie binge watch."

"Hell yeah, let's do it."

The girls all sat down at the couch and waited for Amber to turn on the TV. "What do you guys wanna watch?"

"Let's just be critics for the night." Danielle suggested. "Let's watch bad movies and make fun of them."

Amber smiled "I had a feeling that's what you'd be going for so I took the liberty of looking up all the worst rated movies for us to see."

"Oh, you know me so well."

The doorbell rang and both turtles went into ninja mode and vanished.

"Oh, the pizza." Amber got up to go to the door. "You guys need to..." she turned to her friends only to find they were already gone. "Right, they're ninjas. Why do I even bother?" she opened the door, paid for the pizza and shut the door. Danielle and Kylie were sitting back on the couch when she turned around. "Here you go, let's get started."

An hour into their first movie, they had finished the pizza and were thoroughly enjoying their crap movie when Amber's phone rang. She picked it up and looked at the caller ID. She picked up the remote and paused the movie. "Sorry guys, I gotta answer this."

"Go for it."

Amber answered it and put it on speaker phone. "Hey Toni, what's up?"

"Oh my God, Amber." Toni squealed over the phone.

"Oh my God, what?" Amber asked.

"I met the hottest guy at that party last night." she continued to squeal happily.

Amber sighed and rubbed her temples. "Seriously? What about Logan?" she asked slightly annoyed. She knew how her friend was. She wasn't into the whole exclusivity thing.

Toni groaned. "Come on, Amber. Don't go there."

"Go where? All I'm doing is reminding you that you have a boyfriend." Amber said. "A boyfriend that really cares about you. I'm just being a good friend."

"I know, but..."

"Does this guy know that you have a boyfriend?"

"Of course he does, that was the first thing I told him when he approached me." she explained only halfheartedly. "But he was persistent."

"I don't care how persistent he was." Amber said annoyed. "You should've kept him away."

"Well it's a little late for that because he's coming over." Toni sighed. "It's not that big of a deal."

"You know nothing about this guy and you're inviting him over."

Toni sighed heavily again. "I don't have to know much if we're never going to see each other after tonight and my parents won't be back until tomorrow."

Amber shook her head and looked to Danielle and Kylie. She didn't want to keep them waiting anymore and clearly trying to talk to her friend was getting her nowhere. "Look Toni, you and I both know that what you're doing is pretty messed up, but I'm not going to keep arguing with you so do you, T."

"Alright," she paused. "I gotta go. He's gonna be here soon."

"Okay, bye." Amber said and angrily hung up the phone. "Sorry you had to hear that guys."

"It's fine. She's not a faithful person, is she?" Danielle asked.

"Nope, she's not."

"Does her boyfriend know...?"

"That she cheats." Amber finished. "Yeah, and he's so in love with her that he just won't leave her. Honestly, he deserves so much better." she shrugged. "Whatever, it's not my life so it's not my problem." she picked up the remote. "Let's just enjoy ourselves tonight. I'll worry about her tomorrow." she started their movie back up.

* * *

Hours later Malcolm took a peek outside his room to make sure there was no one around. It was dark in the lair and everyone was in bed. Malcolm carefully made his way over to the stairs and made his way down. He headed over to the lab where his brother was while trying to make the least amount of noise possible. Just then, Don opened the door to the lab and walked out causing Malcolm to gasp and hide further in the shadows. Don turned toward the sound and immediately knew who it was "Malcolm, come on out." Malcolm stepped into light of the lab where he could be seen better. "It's late. What are you doing out of bed?"

"I can't sleep." Malcolm said. "And I want to know if Xavier is okay. It's kinda my fault that he got hurt."

"Xavier is fine, and it's not your fault. You didn't know what was going to happen." Don knelt down in front of him and gave him a loving pat on the head.

Malcolm cast his brown eyes toward the floor. He didn't actually believe that he wasn't at least a little bit responsible for what happened "Can I see him?" he asked hopefully.

Don sighed. He hated seeing him like this. "Alright, go ahead." he stepped out of the way and let Malcolm through into the dimly lit lab. Xavier was laid up in bed, sleeping in a reclining position. Malcolm walked up to the bed and climbed onto it. Without saying another word he laid down next to him careful not to wake his older brother. Don smiled at the sight and gently shut the door behind him.

* * *

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	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The sun peeked in through the window the next morning, waking Amber from her slumber. She groaned and opened her eyes. Kylie was still out cold as usual while Danielle was already up and playing with her phone. "You're up early." Amber mentioned, distracting her friend from whatever she was doing on her phone.

Danielle turned to look at her "Yeah, that usually happens to me. Once the sun comes up then so do I."

"I wish I had that ability." Amber giggled then looked over to Kylie and tried waking her. "Ky, time to get up."

"Mmm..." was her only response as she continued sleeping.

"Ugh... lazy." Amber rolled her eyes.

"Just leave her." Danielle got up out of bed.

"Alright, let's go get some breakfast." she got up and headed out the door.

"Pancakes?" Danielle asked excitedly.

Amber smiled "If you ask Mom nicely."

"Sweet." she followed her out of the room.

Amber started down the stairs first and in the living room she saw her mother, father and...

"Uncle Henry?" Amber quickly turned to make sure Danielle wasn't still following her because Henry, her father's partner, was sitting with her parents. Once she was sure that she wasn't being followed she turned back to the adults in the room. "What are you doing here so early?"

"Amber, sweetie, we need to tell you something." Jacklyn said "Can you come down here?"

"Uh... sure." Amber continued down the stairs and sat down on the couch. "What's happening?" it was then that she noticed the grim looks on their faces. "What's going on?"

"Amber," Mike said "We have some bad news, it might be tough for you to hear."

"Okay." Amber said slowly as she tried to mentally prepare herself for what she was about to be told.

"You know a girl about your age named, Toniann Watson, right?" Henry began.

"Yes." she continued as she increasingly got nervous.

"Well, early this morning her parents found her in bed..." he paused. "She's dead." Henry said as calmly as possible.

Amber felt her stomach twist into knots. "What? No, that's crazy I was just talking to her last night. What happened?" Both Michael and Henry kept quiet, not really knowing how to explain the current situation. "Just tell me. Did it happen in her sleep? Was she killed?"

"I'm sorry, hon." Jackie said. That was all the answer she needed.

"What's going on?" Kylie yawned as she wandered out of the room. She saw Danielle keeping herself pressed up against the wall, out of sight of the people downstairs.

Danielle turned to her and placed a finger over her lips, signaling her to keep quiet.

"Who killed her?" Amber felt tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. "... was it that serial killer?"

"We have reason to believe that is what happened."

Full blown tears were now pouring down her cheeks. "I should've stopped her. I could've stopped her."

"About that. Since you were the last one to speak to her, we're going to need to ask you some questions."

"Henry!" Mike scolded. "Not now."

"No Dad, it's fine. I'm gonna do what I can to help you catch this guy, but I don't think what I have to tell you will be of any help."

"Anything you have will help."

"Okay..." she sighed "I'll be right back." she quickly made her way upstairs where Danielle and Kylie were patiently waiting. They followed her back into her room.

"Amber, I'm so sorry." Kylie said. She wasn't really sure of what else to say. She just found out that her friend was murdered.

"It's fine. There's nothing you can do about it." Amber said bluntly with the most straight face that either one had ever seen. It was almost scary.

"Do you want us to stay with you?" Kylie didn't want to leave her friend especially not now.

"No, I'm not gonna make you stay here while I'm getting questioned." Amber sighed and wiped away the remainder of her tears. "So go home."

"Are you sure?" Danielle asked. "We can stay if really need us to." Amber nodded tiredly. "Alright, call us if you need anything, okay."

Amber nodded again and the mutants hesitantly headed out the window. "Guys," Amber called out before they could leave. "Be careful, okay."

Danielle and Kylie knew exactly what she meant when she said that. Both mutants went back over to her to give her a big, comforting hug. "You don't have to worry about us. We'll be just fine." Kylie reassured.

"Yeah, that's what I thought with Toni and now she's gone." Amber cried as she clung onto her two friends.

"It's different with us. You know that." Danielle continued trying to convince her that something like this would never happen to them.

"I know, but still... just stay safe, okay."

"We will." They hesitantly separated from their distraught friend and headed back for the window. Once they were on the rooftop, they made their way home. "I kinda feel bad for leaving her." Danielle finally said hoping over a particularly large gap.

"I know, but with her it's best not to crowd her when she's upset. Just gotta leave her alone for a little while."

"I guess you're right."

* * *

"Now Amber, do you have any idea who Toniann was talking to? Did she have a boyfriend or something?" Henry probed once she sat back down on the couch.

Amber looked up at the aging man. Right out the gate he was bringing up the boyfriend. "She had a boyfriend, but I know it wasn't him." Amber continued. "I don't know who it was, but it wasn't him."

"Okay, tell us about the conversation you had with her last night." Mike continued with the questioning.

Amber took a deep breath before explaining "Last night, she called me and she was so excited about this guy that she met at a party. She told me that he was going to be coming over to see her."

"She didn't tell you his name or anything about him?"

"No," Amber sighed while her mother rubbed her back . "She was probably going to, but I was too busy scolding her because she was inviting a random guy to her house." she gave a sad smile. "She never liked it when I "ruined her fun."

"Are you sure it couldn't have been her boyfriend?" Henry immediately went back to the boyfriend. "By what you're telling us, Toniann wasn't very faithful. Could he have perhaps found out about what she was planning on doing that night, went to her house and killed her there."

Amber gave an almost inaudible growl. "I'm telling you. He wouldn't do something like this." she said frustrated as she slammed her fist on the arm of the couch.

"Quick question. You said she met this guy at a party?" Mike asked while simultaneously diffusing the situation. He knew that he needed his daughter to cooperate and she wouldn't be able to do that when she was all worked up. His partner wasn't really helping matters.

"Yeah, one of our classmates was throwing it for all the seniors I think, before we all graduate and go our separate ways."

"Do you know the name of the student that threw this party?"

She exhaled and nodded.

* * *

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	8. Chapter 7

Sorry guys, had a bit of a block.

* * *

Chapter 7

Kylie and Danielle walked into the lair and directly to the kitchen since they didn't get to eat anything. Most of the adults were hanging around in there. Xavier was sitting at the table, his bandaged head resting on the table.

"You guys are back early." Raph said while eating his breakfast. "I thought you'd be there all day."

"Yeah, something came up. We had to leave a little early."

"What happened?" Melanie asked.

"It seems the city's serial killer got to Amber's friend." Danielle explained.

Their facial features seemed to change up to a look of concern when they heard that and Xavier picked his head up off the table. "What?" Don asked.

"Yeah, apparently she let the guy into her house late at night. Then the next morning she turned up dead."

There was a silence in the room that was only broken when Melanie spoke up. "Can you guys give us a second?" she asked. That was the kids cue to leave. As the three teens made their way out of the kitchen a voice stopped them.

"Guys." all three turned to see RJ standing off to the side. He was leaning up against the wall with his muscular arms crossed. One would wonder if he knew how much he looked like Raphael in that moment.

"Sup RJ." Kylie answered her older brother.

"How is she?" he asked simply. It didn't take long for her to figure out what he meant by that. He must have overheard what was said and was worried about Amber.

"About as well as one would expect." she sighed.

RJ uncrossed his arms and headed for the door, the girls quickly went to step in front of him. "Wait. Where are you going?" Danielle asked holding her arms out in front of her, stopping him in his tracks.

"Where does it look like I'm going? I'm going to go see her." he pushed his way passed them and continued out to the sewers. Both of the girls kept up with him, nearly colliding with Takashi as he was making his way back home.

"Listen RJ, now is probably not the best time to see her." Kylie grabbed hold of his arm, stopping him again. "She's probably still being questioned right now and even if she wasn't I don't think she really wants to talk to anyone right now." RJ pulled his arm out of her grip. "You need to give her a little time, okay."

"Fine." RJ growled and headed back toward home.

"What was that about?" Takashi asked. "And who is being questioned?"

Danielle wrapped an arm around her brother's shoulders and began leading him back home. "Come on, we'll tell you on the way back.

* * *

Sierra sat at a table outside of a fairly new cafe called 'Tasty Delights' as she waited for Vanessa to get there. She looked around the patio area. Only a few tables were dotted with customers. That would change soon when the lunch rush comes in. _I'm glad I got here early._ She thought. This particular cafe was very popular, with a wide array of people all over the city because, apparently, the staff was very personable. Business was doing pretty well despite only opening a few months ago. Sierra leaned back in the chair and let the sunshine wash over her, just as a waiter appeared next to her, ready to take her order.

"Hey, are you ready to order?" the waiter asked happily.

Sierra looked up at the young man's happy face. His short, brown, almost messy looking hair and round, blue eyes made him look very young. He looked no older than Kylie. "Um... no, not quite yet. I'm waiting for someone."

"Alright, well I'll just bring out some water for you, okay."

"That would be great, thank you." As soon as he left, Vanessa came walking up. She plopped down in her seat with a heavy sigh. "Rough day at the hospital?" Sierra asked with a small smile.

"Oh yeah, I don't think I've ever wanted to get out of there so badly." Vanessa said. She went on to explain what has been going on."There's this one patient that is being particularly difficult today, but I guess it's not entirely his fault. He's been very uncomfortable so he's kind of cranky." the waiter came back with two glasses of water. "I care about him, despite all the problems he's giving me." she rubbed her temples "I don't know what I'm going to do about him."

"Hey, are we ready?" the waiter returned and placed glasses of water in front of both women. The ladies ordered what they wanted and he stepped away.

"So did you hear?" Vanessa brought her voice down to a whisper. "Someone else got killed."

"No, I didn't. What happened?" Sierra whispered back now fully invested in what she was saying.

"According to Don, Amber's friend was killed in her home."

"Oh no, are you serious?" Sierra asked. "So this guy is aiming for high school students as well?"

"Yes, and that's terrifying."

"Listen, I know it's scary since we have teenagers of our own, but we won't have to worry as much. They're smart kids."

"I know, but imagine if this girl was your daughter. We can't just not care because you think we're not in danger." Vanessa explained.

"Alright, alright. So what do you suggest we do?"

"We can only do what we can with the info we've been given by Michael. We can look for anything else that the police can't look into."

"Right. Well what do we know so far?"

"Only that it seems that each of the victims let the killer into their home. There were no signs of a struggle and they were all killed in their own beds after he had sex with them." Vanessa told her all the info they had. "Oh and they've given him a name. He is now known simply as the Lady Killer."

Sierra snorted a laugh "Well, that's original, but I like the double meaning that they've got going there. My question is, why these particular women? It doesn't seem like any of them had any connection to each other. Also do we know what the murder weapon is?"

"Nope, but according to Michael, it's something long and thin. Not a knife." Vanessa said "I was told that the bodies looked like their were tiny holes punctured in the chest and stomach. So what kind of sharp object would leave marks like that."

Sierra began listing off various items that could fit the description. "Some sort of nail, an ice pick, a spike."

"Okay, not gonna respond to the fact that you answered so easily." Vanessa shook that off. "And instead, I'm just going to try to figure something out when we get home."

Sierra looked around the cafe as it continually got more crowded as the lunch rush officially started. "Yeah, it's probably a safe bet."

* * *

"I don't know Casey, I'm worried about him." Mason said. He, Erica and Casey, who had come to visit his granddaughter, were standing in the kitchen, talking. "He hasn't left home since she left." Mason was referring to Dirk. Dirk was currently sitting on the couch, watching TV. Skylar, Mya and baby Izzy were playing with their toys on the floor in front of him. He wasn't watching what they were doing and it looked like what was on TV wasn't keeping his attention. He seemed a little out of it.

"Well it's only natural for you to worry about him, he is your brother." Casey said.

"I guess, but come on, look at him." Erica gestured toward her brother, who seemed to be unaware of the conversation they were having. "It can't be healthy to be inside this long."

"He's got a broken heart, that'll happen. You can't just force him to do what he doesn't want to do." Casey explained. "I know what that feels like." Casey had to deal with a pretty bad divorce with April years ago when he found out that she had fallen in love with someone else, that someone else being Donatello. Casey had found out a lot about her back then, including the fact that she was actively trying to sabotage Donnie and Vanessa's marriage for no real good reason. Casey hasn't seen April since the divorce. Finding out that not only was April unfaithful, but May as well had him feeling guilty since she is his daughter.

"Do you think you could try to talk to him?" Mason suggested.

Casey sighed and ran his hand through his graying hair. "Alright, I'll talk to him, but I can't promise you anything." he made his way over to the couch and sat down next to him. "Hey..."

Dirk looked over to him for a second then back at the TV. "What is it?" he asked with a tinge of annoyance in his voice.

"Just wanna know how you're doing." he reached down to pick up Izzy off the floor and placed her on his lap. Her bright, blue eyes looked up to meet his and she smiled.

"I'm fine..." he sounded as if he wanted to say more, but seemed to decide against it at the last second. "Just fine."

"Really? Cause it sure doesn't look like it."

Dirk sighed heavily "Will you just leave me alone, Case."

Casey shook his head defiantly "Not gonna happen. Listen, I know how you feel. You're heartbroken, but that doesn't mean that you should shut people out."

"Who's shutting people out? It's not like it's a secret, everyone knows what happened." Dirk snapped. "May ran off because... I was too much for her, I guess. She got bored, or she just didn't want to live underground with me anymore."

Casey placed a comforting hand on his shoulder "I don't know what her reason was, but what I learned is that you can't focus so much on what she might be doing." he placed Izzy on her father's lap. "All you can do is focus on your kid, just be there for her and be a good father." he paused to see if Dirk would respond in any way. When he didn't, he continued. "For what it's worth, I think you're doing great in that department."

Dirk smirked and looked down at his daughter. "I guess you're right. Thanks Casey."

"No problem."

* * *

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	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

 _Later on that night_

RJ slipped out the lair and began heading toward Amber's house. He would never admit this out loud, but she has been on his mind all day since he heard what happened. He just wanted to be there for her, even if she didn't want him there. He came to a stop on the roof of the Evans' home. He made his way down the fire escape and stopped right outside of Amber's window. Taking a quick peek inside to make sure only she was there, he saw that she really and understandably wasn't taking this very well.

Amber was lying on her side facing away from him. From what he could see in the dim lighting, she was was curled up in a ball with a nearly empty box of tissues. RJ sighed before lightly tapping on the glass to get her attention. Amber sat upright and looked toward her window. When she saw one of her green friends she quickly got up to open it.

"RJ? What are you doing here?" Amber asked while wiping the rest of her tears away. Now that he got a close up look at her face he was able to see how red and puffy her eyes were. She must have been crying for hours.

"I'm here to see how you're holding up, Princess."

Amber couldn't help, but let out a small giggle when she heard her nickname. It was almost strange how quickly her mood changed when RJ was around. "How do you think I'm holding up?" she asked sarcastically.

His golden amber eyes searched her deep brown ones for just a moment before he suddenly held his hand out toward her. "Come on." he spurted suddenly.

Amber gave him a weird look. "Where are we going?" she asked unsure if she should take him up on his offer,

"Just up to the roof. I think you need some air."

"No I don't. I just want to stay inside for tonight."

"Come on," he encouraged. "Trust me, princess."

Amber sighed, grabbed his hand and let him help her outside to the fire escape. She followed him up the ladder to the roof. They stood for a while in silence. Amber wrapped her arms around herself as she looked up at the night sky. RJ stood next to her, not saying anything just taking in the sight of her. She didn't have to say anything to him, he knew exactly how she was feeling. It was all in her body language, if the tears weren't a dead giveaway.

"I wish I had done more for her." Amber spoke, barely above a whisper.

RJ stood silently and listened "I wish I tried harder to stop her. I knew her unfaithful ways would come back to bite her, but..." another tear rolled down her cheek. "I never knew it would bite her like this."

RJ draped an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. "I'm a horrible friend."

"Hey now, don't say things like that." he scolded.

"But it's true."

"Stop it." RJ grabbed her shoulders and shook her a bit. "That is not true. You did what you could for her."

"And clearly it wasn't enough."

"She didn't want to listen to your warnings." he tried explaining to her. "You just couldn't constantly take care of her and live your own life. You can't blame yourself for wanting to have a life of your own. That's not fair to you."

Whether RJ's pep talk worked or not he wasn't sure, but Amber wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug as she let fresh tears roll down her cheeks. RJ quietly wrapped his arms around her waist. He could feel her warm tears hitting his neck, but he didn't care. All he was worried about was keeping her safe and taking away her pain. They stayed like that for what felt like forever. Amber taking in all the comfort he was willing to give.

* * *

A couple of days later Amber felt well enough to go back to school. The talk she had with RJ did make her feel loads better. She always appreciated that he knew when to talk and when to just let her vent. The way he held her in his arms kind of helped too. She wasn't really sure what it was, but she just felt safe in his muscular arms.

The entire day was filled with sympathy filled looks from everyone around her. Just about the entire school knew that Amber and Toni were best friends and always hung out with each other. They were practically joined at the hip as far as they were concerned. It felt weird having eyes on her all day and even weirder to have people that she rarely ever talked to come up to her to express their condolences.

When she got to her locker at the end of classes she was approached by yet another person. Amber turned when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She came face to face with a boy about her age. He was taller than she was so she did have to look at his face. He wasn't fairing any better than she was by the looks of it. His gray eyes seemed dull and lifeless, his long, shoulder length brown hair was pulled back in a pony tail. His normally tan skin seemed paler and he looked pretty sick. He wore a red sweat jacket over his fairly muscular arms. Amber cocked her head to the side as she thought that they were nothing compared to RJ's. She felt her face heat up and she shook her head as sudden thoughts of her half mutant friend invaded her brain. "What's up, Logan?" she greeted.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"About as well as you're doing right now." she stated with a sad smile.

"I can't believe this happened." he stated. "I knew how she was, I knew that she didn't really care about me, but I still loved her." he looked down at the floor. "Jeez, I sound pretty pathetic right now, don't I?"

"No, you're not pathetic. You have a good heart and when you fall in love, you just happen to fall in love harder than anyone else. You deserve a girl that will love you as much as you'll love them." she explained, placing a soothing hand on his shoulder. She loved Toni, she was a great friend, but she hated how she treated Logan. Being with her really destroyed his confidence over the year that they were together. It's like he seemed to think that he didn't deserve the best. He's a good looking guy, with a loving personality. He needed this confidence boost. "I can guarantee that whoever you end up with will be a very lucky girl."

His gray eyes met hers for a second before he chuckled. "Thanks, I feel better hearing that."

He may have said that he felt better, but she could tell by the long sigh that he wasn't really. "Tell you what, why don't you and I get some ice cream tonight. That always makes me feel better whenever I feel like shit and it'll be my treat."

Logan chuckled lightly "Sure, sounds great. I'll come get you at around 6."

"Fine by me. See you then."

* * *

Read and Review


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Later on that evening, RJ sat on the roof of a building looking over the city as the sun began to set. RJ leaned up against an abandoned storage shed, shut his eyes and sighed. Letting the cool breeze wash over him, he thought back to his time with Amber. She really didn't look so good when he went to see her. He hoped that he was able to help her at least a little bit. Of course this also wouldn't have happened if this killer wasn't around.

"Hey, Twin." A voice greeted.

RJ didn't even have to open his eyes to know who it was. "Hey, Twin." he greeted right back. "What are you doing out here?"

"Looking for you." Kylie responded simply.

"Why?" he sighed.

"Cause I was worried about you."

RJ finally opened his eyes and gave his sister an annoyed scowl. "Why? Nothing's wrong."

"Really, dude?" she rolled her eyes. "You're my brother and my twin brother at that. You don't think I know how you're feeling at this point?"

"If you're talking about twin telepathy, that's not a thing." RJ said.

"I beg to disagree big brother. How else would I know how you're feeling all the time?"

"Maybe it's just because you know me too well."

"Well, whatever it is. I still felt like something was on your mind. So spill."

"There's nothing to spill."

"RJ, come on." she playfully nudged him. "Is it Amber? Are you worried about her?"

"If I said yes, will you keep quiet?" he asked, desperate for some silence.

"Nope." she said, relishing in the fact that he was getting annoyed. He groaned and ran a hand through his red hair. "Now you have to tell me why she's on your mind."

He sighed knowing full well that she was not going to let this go. "Fine, if you must know, it's not so much Amber that's on my mind and more so this killer." Kylie gave him her full attention at that. "I mean, what exactly are we facing here?"

"A psychopath that kills women for no reason."

"No, no there's a reason. If there wasn't, he wouldn't be targeting certain women. he'd be killing every woman that he sees and he probably wouldn't clean up after himself so well." he looked back up at the night sky. "There's definitely a reason behind this."

"I think you've been watching too many crime shows."

"Think about it, Ky. Why is he targeting these girls? Tell me about Amber's friend."

Kylie sat up against the shed. "Well, I don't really know anything about her. I only know what I heard from Amber and that isn't much."

"Well, what do you know?"

"She's supposedly really nice, they've been friends for years and..."

"And...?" he encouraged.

Kylie snapped her fingers in realization "Oh yeah, apparently, she's not a faithful girl."

"Okay then, let's focus on that. They've gotta check the boyfriend."

"I don't know if they questioned him, but Amber insists that it wasn't him though."

"Alright, fine. You said she wasn't faithful so all you have to do is check her other boyfriends. You might find something out."

"Like what?"

"Like maybe one of them is the killer."

* * *

Amber and Logan stepped out of the ice cream shop and began heading back home. "Thanks Amber, you were right, ice cream does help."

"Told you." Amber giggled. "I'm glad I could cheer you up at least a little bit."

"I appreciate it." Logan looked up at the sky and sighed sadly. "It's dark out, let me get you home."

The young teens only managed to make it a few blocks before two people walked out of the alley way ahead of them. One with dark skin and dreads pulled back out of his face with a bandanna. The other had fairer skin with a short, green mohawk and piercings dotting his ears. Both had their very own weapons and both had very noticeable purple dragon tattoos wrapped around their arms. The teens backed away from them only for three more to step out of the shadows of the alley behind them. Amber and Logan were surrounded.

"What do you guys want?" Logan sneered, standing protectively in front of Amber.

"Drop everything you have." One of the dragons holding a pipe said. "And you can go."

"Fine, Amber, give them your things."

"Okay, sure." she slowly removed the bag from her shoulder and placed it on the floor. "That's all I've got."

Logan followed suit by emptying his pockets. "There you have everything now leave us alone."

One of the dragons quickly picked up the items that Logan dropped while another grabbed Amber's purse and began rummaging through it. "Let's see, we have a cell phone, some gum and a wallet with..." he paused as he opened it and rolled his eyes. "Five dollars in it. Is this all you've got?"

Amber glared at her mugger and suddenly started speaking before she could stop herself. "Well, duh. What did you expect?"

One of the dragons suddenly grabbed her by the hair and pressed a knife dangerously close to her throat. "Watch your mouth, bitch. I will kill you."

"No don't, let her go." Logan tried to get to her only to be restrained by a couple of other purple dragons. "You don't have to do this."

"Aw, are you worried about your little girlfriend?" the one with a mohawk teased with a twisted grin on his face. "Hey," he called to his friend holding onto a struggling Amber. "Let's take her with us."

"No, please." Logan begged as he dragged Amber into the alleyway. "Don't do this."

"It's okay, we'll take good care of her." the purple dragon patted his cheek, mocking him. He turned to his two buddies restraining him. "Take care of him." he ordered before following the other one into the alley.

Amber continued her futile struggle against the purple dragons as they pulled her deeper into the darkened alleyway. "Let me go!" Amber cried.

"Quit squirming." he growled while struggling to keep up with his buddy. Amber kicked wildly making it much more difficult for the Purple Dragon to keep hold of her. One of her random kicks managed to connect with a nearby trashcan. The metal can hit the ground with a loud bang, catching the attention of the two turtles sitting on the roof of a building.

"What the hell was that?" RJ asked, moving to the edge of the building.

Kylie followed and saw Amber being dragged through the alley. "Amber."

Without another word, RJ climbed down the fire escape and began following them, Kylie followed close behind only to hear sounds of a scuffle from behind her. She knew in the pit of her stomach that someone else was in trouble. She turned back to the sounds she was hearing, leaving the safety of Amber in the hands of her brother.

"Come on man, hurry up." the leader of their little group ordered, he was way up ahead of his friend, who was slowly starting to fall behind because he had to deal with the feisty teen.

"Hey, you wanna try holding her." he argued back.

"Nah, I've got something else planned for her."

"No!" without thinking, Amber bit down hard on her captor's hand.

The purple dragon screamed and let her go. "Damn you." he suddenly raised his hand to hit her, but was stopped when someone held his hand back. "What the hell?" he turned just in time for a fist to connect with his face, instantly knocking the thug out.

"Shit!" the only one left standing turned to see a silhouette of a giant turtle. He turned toward him and attacked only to be taken out by a few well placed kicks and punches. Once he was down for the count he slowly approached Amber.

"Hey, are you okay?" he held out a hand toward her.

"Yeah, thanks RJ." she took his hand and he helped her up. "We have to go back. My friend's in trouble." her voice came out panicked.

"Relax, it's covered." RJ smirked knowingly. "Kylie's got him."

 _ **Meanwhile**_

Logan grunted as another fist connected with his stomach. Two other dragons kept him up upright so another punch could connect with his face. The beat down continued until he couldn't stand on his own anymore. The Purple Dragons let him go and he collapsed on the ground, gasping for air and spitting up blood.

Logan looked up at his assailants and waited for them to continue, when one of them suddenly had his legs pulled from under him by a chain. He landed hard on his stomach and was quickly pulled into the alley. Logan and the remaining dragons stared into the alley confused and terrified.

One of them approached the edge of the darkness and was swiftly pulled in just like his friend. There was silence for a long time before someone spoke. "Come on, big guy. Don't be scared. Come and play." A teasing female voice spoke from the dark. Logan squinted against the darkness to try and get a better look while the purple dragon started to back away slowly. "Aw, where ya going? I was having fun." the voice shouted as the dragon ran off.

Logan forced himself to stand up "Um... thanks, I guess."

There was a long pause before the voice spoke up again. "No problem, now you should get out of here before they come back."

"Wait, what about my friend? She's in danger."

"It's alright. Amber's fine."

Logan stared blankly. How did she know Amber's name? "But how do...?"

"I have to leave now. Be careful, okay." that was the last statement before she left.

"Wait!"

"Wait for what?" Amber emerged from the dark.

"Amber!" Logan said excitedly, pulling her into a crushing hug, hurting himself a bit in the process. "You're okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Amber separated herself from him and got a good look at him. Bruises littered his body, he had a large cut on his forehead and blood rolled down from the wound to his cheek. And by the way he was breathing heavily and the way he had his arm wrapped around himself, she was willing to guess that he may have had a couple busted ribs. "But you're not."

"I'll live." he said as he spat up more blood.

Amber shook her head. "I'm calling an ambulance so sit down." she helped him sit back down on the ground as she pulled out her phone.

"Hey, Amber. I think we have guardians."

Amber snickered "Yeah okay, Logan." she shook her head and stated as sarcastically as she could manage, she couldn't let him know that she knew who helped them.

"I'm serious, Amber." Logan insisted. "Someone was looking out for us."

* * *

Alright, I'm gonna end it here and hopefully I'll be able to update faster.


	11. Chapter 10

**Sorry, I had another bout of writer's block. It's really not fun. I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with this, but now I think I know what I'm doing now.**

 **Enjoy this next chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 10

After the nurses finished treating the minor wounds, Amber was guided to a dimly lit room of the hospital where Logan was resting. She stepped inside and really got a glimpse of the damage that was done by the Purple Dragons. His head was wrapped in bandages, his right hand wrapped in a thick cast and most likely his ribs were wrapped up as well. "Hey, Logan."

Logan turned to look at her, exhaustion written all over his face. "Hey, Amber. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. Just a few scrapes on my hands." she said as she held up her bandaged hands.

"Good."

"I'm glad you're okay too, Logan."

"Yeah, and I have my guardian angel to thank for that." Logan suddenly had a huge smile on his face.

Amber rolled her eyes. "Jeez, you're still on that?" she asked.

"Yes, I am. If it wasn't for her, I'd be dead. I wish there was some way that I could thank her."

"I'm sure that you being okay is enough thanks." Amber tried explaining it away. "Listen, it was just a coincidence. We were in trouble and someone just happened to be nearby to help us out, that's all." she explained. "There's no guardian." Logan was dead set on this, and no matter what Amber said, he just wouldn't let it go. Finally, Amber gave up and just changed the subject. "So when are they letting you out of here?"

"They're saying that I may be able to get discharged in a few days. Luckily the damage done wasn't too bad." Logan took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he let a yawn escape from his lips.

Amber smiled down at him. "Alright, I'll let you get some rest now. I've gotta get home."

Logan's gray eyes snapped open when she said that. "What? You're actually thinking about going out there on your own after what happened?"

Amber held her hands up to stop him. "Whoa, relax. There's no way in hell that I would walk out there by myself right now." as if on cue her phone vibrated in her pocket. "I got a ride, so I'll see you later, okay."

"Alright, see ya."

Amber started to make her way out of the room as she looked at her phone. On it was a message from her father, letting her know that he was waiting outside for her. She made her way to the front of the hospital and walked through the automatic sliding glass doors. Sitting out front was her father standing outside of his car. When he saw her he quickly pulled her into a hug. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Dad. Don't worry."

He sighed. "You're lucky that RJ and Kylie were there. You could've been killed."

"Yeah, it's just not my week, is it?" Amber asked teasingly, with a small smile on her face.

Mike gave her a look, he wasn't sure what was going on in her head. She just lost her best friend and now she was just mugged. This wasn't really something to joke around about, so maybe it's affecting her more than he thought and maybe she's just putting on a front. Or this could be her way of coping. He wasn't sure which.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Mike asked cautiously.

Amber started to make her way to the passenger side door. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just go home." she climbed into the car. Mike got in the driver's side and began driving off. Amber looked outside, watching the scenery go by. She sighed.

Mike turned a quick glance to his daughter before turning his attention back to the road. He had to keep her safe, but with him and many other resources being used to try and catch their current serial killer. And the rest going into stopping the Purple Dragons, whose criminal activity has increased since the appearance of the killer. It just hasn't been easy. "Listen Amber, maybe you should stay off the streets as much as possible." he suggested.

That got her attention. She turned her gaze to her father. "What? But Dad..." she started to complain.

"Now Amber, I'm just trying to keep you safe." he cut her off before she could really start. "Since I'm not around as often as I would like, that means I can't protect you. The only way I know you'll be safe is if you are inside."

Amber sighed again. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. She knew what he was saying was right, so she chose not to argue. She was too exhausted mentally to argue anyway. "Alright, I get it."

"Thank you Amber, I know this is going to be hard for you, but I think it's for the best."

Amber turned back toward the window and waited to get home.

* * *

 _A couple days later_

The guys all sat around in the kitchen as they did just about everyday to see what they can figure out about the city's killer. Mason, Dirk and Erica decided to join the conversation this time. They've mostly been spending time inside their own home taking care of their kids so they aren't as updated on info as the others are. They only know what they heard on the news. "So, we have a guy running around, leading women into thinking that they're going to have a good time, only to kill them after having sex." Mason explained.

"That's the basic gist of it." Raph said. "No suspects, no clues. Just a body, every single time."

"So who could it be?" Erica asked.

"Before we can even figure out who, maybe we should ask why." Leo suggested. "If we find out why he's targeting these women specifically then we could have a better chance at figuring out who."

Dirk crossed his arms. "So, do we have anything to work with?

"According to Mike, we have a surveillance video of victim number six, Traci Stevens, walking into her apartment with someone. And that same someone hours later leaving. He had his face pretty heavily hidden so you can't really tell who it is." Don explained.

"Nothing else?" Erica asked.

"Not anything worth noting." Mikey shrugged. "Just a couple of random people also heading home for the night."

"So basically we don't have much to work with?"

"Yeah," Mikey answered. "Pretty much."

Mason felt that something was missing, like there was more to it that they just weren't seeing. No one should be this good at cleaning up after a murder. "What are the police working on now?"

"Questioning anyone that had any contact with the latest victim."

"Oh, Amber's friend, right?" Mason asked. "How is she?"

"Not so great. Along with losing her friend, I think she got mugged pretty recently as well." Don said to him.

Mason sighed. "I need to go check on her. I haven't seen her in a while."

"That's what happens when you have a kid."

"I guess. I just hope she isn't too distraught about the whole thing."

* * *

Sierra, Paige and Melanie waited for Vanessa to show up to Tasty Delights for lunch. It was Melanie and Paige's first time at this little cafe and Sierra was kind of excited to introduce them to the new place. "I'm telling you guys, you are going to love it here."

"I'm sure we will." Paige said.

"I don't care where we go as long as there is food." Melanie added rubbing her stomach. "I'm starving."

"I know you are, and we'll get to the food soon. I promise."

As soon as Vanessa arrived they were soon seated at one of the cafe's outdoor tables by the hostess. "I will admit this place is kind of cute." Melanie stated as she fiddled around with the white flower centerpiece.

"I'm glad you approve." Vanessa giggled.

A waitress popped up next to their table. Her long, wavy, brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she had almond shaped, green eyes. By the way she basically skipped over to the table, anyone could tell that she was just a really bubbly person. "Hey, I'm Jaime. I will be your server today." the girl greeted with a bright smile.

All of them just went with water for now and ordered their food. Jaime collected their menus and headed toward the kitchen with a slight skip in her step. "She was doing too much." Melanie deadpanned.

"Oh come on, she was just keeping things light and happy." Paige nudged her sister with her elbow.

Melanie shook her head. "Still too much. No one is that happy."

Sierra rolled her eyes "What if she is, Mel?"

"Then something's wrong with her." Mel answered.

Sierra quickly changed the subject, trying to get the attention off of the poor waitress. "So Vanessa, how's your favorite patient doing?"

Vanessa groaned out loud and laid her head down on the table. Jaime came back with four glasses of water. "I can't take it with him anymore. I don't know how much longer I can do this." she took a long sip of her water as the waitress made her way back to the kitchen. "He must've hit the emergency call button ten different times throughout the day even though absolutely nothing was wrong with him. There wasn't any sort of emergency. He just hit the call button and when I got there, he either criticized how long it took me to get to his room or he just complained about something that he didn't need to complain about."

"Well, he sounds fun." Mel said sarcastically.

"You have no idea. I mean, it's not like he's lonely or anything. At least then I could understand, but his family is there all the time." Vanessa leaned back in her chair and took a quick glance around when she caught a glimpse of a familiar face. "Hey guys, look who it is."

The remaining three women turned their heads to see May-lee sitting at a table near them. "Well, look at that. I wonder what she's been up to." Sierra murmured before catching the look that Paige was giving the young red haired woman. It was clear that Paige's mood instantly soured at the very sight of her. If looks could kill, May-lee would have dropped dead right now. May actually looked up and made the mistake of locking eyes with Paige. Embarrassed and nervous at possibly meeting the wrath of her ex's mother, she looked away.

Paige scoffed and turned away when a man sat down at the table with May. He had red hair just like May's and pale skin with hazel eyes. He wore a tight shirt to show off his chiseled, muscular chest and arms and a dark pair of jeans. "Oh, that explains it."

"You okay Paige?" Vanessa asked cautiously.

"Never better." Paige responded, still slightly bitter.

"Just ignore her sis, it'll be okay."

"Kind of hard to ignore the girl that hurt my son and left him alone with my granddaughter."

"Don't look at her, pay her no mind. She's not important."

Paige took a deep breath to calm herself down. "You're right. She's not worth it."

"Atta girl." Melanie gave her a pat on the shoulder.

Jaime returned with their food, carefully placing each dish in front of each of the women. She also placed a glass of iced tea in front of Vanessa. "Umm... I didn't order this, did I?" Vanessa questioned.

"No, the guy right over there did." Jaime pointed to a guy sitting by himself. He had brown, messy hair and blue eyes and he looked really familiar. The young man raised his glass when Vanessa made eye contact.

"Wait a minute. Doesn't he work here?" Sierra recognized him as the waiter that served her and Vanessa the last time they were here.

Jaime sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he does. That's my idiot brother, Trent, but since he's off the clock now he tends to sit around and flirt with the women that come through here. It doesn't work, but at least you get free drinks out of it."

"Well, if you're sure."

Jaime waved her hand dismissively. "Oh yeah, go for it. He paid for it. Anyway, enjoy your meal." she happily skipped away.

"Oooo, Nessa's got an admirer." Paige teased. "I'm telling Don."

"You are going to keep quiet." Vanessa snapped and Paige giggled.

* * *

 **Okay this is where I'll end this chap.**

 **Let me know what you think.**


	12. Chapter 11

**Here's the next chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 11

 _A week later_

Amber slowly made her way down the stairs of her school as the last of the days classes were let out. It still felt so weird walking out of the school without Toni right there next to her, going on about some party that she heard about or about how hot some guy is. She shook her head and sighed just as Logan strolled up along side her.

"What's on your mind?" Logan said.

Amber squeaked and jumped away from the sudden voice. "Jeez Logan, don't do that!"

Logan laughed. "Sorry, I didn't mean it. I didn't know you were that deep in thought."

Amber sighed. "Yeah, I was just thinking about how crazy these last couple of weeks have been." she didn't really want to bring up Toni again directly, considering how much he cared about her. Unfortunately for her, he was a little bit more observant than she originally thought.

"You know, you don't have to hide it from me. I know you're still thinking about Toni."

"Oh, yeah, right. Sorry." she apologized. "Um, so, how are you holding up?"

"I'm actually doing pretty well." he said with a huge, bright smile on his face. He looked down at the brace around his wrist and hand. "Well, aside from this."

"Well, that was a bit unexpected." she scratched her head, confused. She couldn't help, but smile back, though. She hasn't seen him this happy in a while. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I mean, I'm still sad because I really did love Toniann. Even if she never loved me back." he and Amber moved off to the side so people could pass and they could talk. "But despite all of that, I feel good knowing that my back is always covered."

Amber rolled her eyes. "Not this again."

Logan smiled brightly. "Yes, this again. " he began eyeing her, studying her. He didn't want to admit it this very second, but he's been a little suspicious of her. Every time he brought this up she would try her hardest to make him forget about it. Like she was almost desperate. The fact that the person that saved him knew who Amber was without him even mentioning her name also made him question what she was saying. He couldn't help, but feel like she was hiding something. He figured he'd try to get some info out of her. "My guardian angel has my back."

"You're insane."

"Call me what you want, but tonight I plan on going to see her again." he said.

Amber was taken aback at this new information. "What? Now I know you've lost it. What are you gonna do, get yourself into trouble with the Purple Dragons again and hope that this person shows up?"

Logan smirked and said. "Well, I could do that, or maybe you could help me."

Amber eyed her friend suspiciously _. Does he know something?_ "Help you? That's not happening. Even if I wanted to, I can't. My Dad has me on serious lock down and doesn't want me out of the house when it's dark."

Logan quickly shook his head, strands of brown hair falling in front of his face in the process. "No, I don't want you to help me that way. I absolutely do not want to put you in danger like that again."

"Then what did you mean?" she asked.

"I meant that maybe you could..." he ran his hand through his hair, then sighed. He really hoped he wasn't wrong in assuming this. "Contact her and ask her to meet me."

Amber felt her stomach turn a little bit _. So he does know. Damn, this isn't good. Maybe I can still salvage this._ "What? You think I know some vigilante." she chuckled. "You're crazy."

"That vigilante saved my life and possibly yours. I'm still not entirely sure how you got out of your predicament that night, but whatever that's besides the point. The point is that I know you know something about this girl."

"Oh really, and why do you think that?" Amber asked.

"Because she said your name, Amber."

She flinched at that. "What?" she tried laughing it off. "Well, maybe she heard you say my name and that's how she knew."

"No, I never said your name. I specifically said my friend is in danger, that night. Your name never came out of my mouth. So if you know something just..."

"What is with you?" she snapped interrupting him out of desperation. "Why do you have to meet her? Why can't you just let this go?"

Logan simply shrugged. "I want to thank her face to face."

"I feel like there's more to it."

"I don't know, maybe there is, but right now all I want to do is thank her. Help me out here." he pleaded while giving her the best doe eyed look he could muster.

His gray eyes locked with her brown ones until she finally caved. With a groan she said. "Fine, you got me. I'll see what I can do."

Logan instantly brightened. "So you do know her? You can help me?"

"I **might** be able to help you. I can talk to her about this, but there's no guarantee that she'll agree. She kinda lives a life of... secrecy and she's not really used to coming out and talking to the people she helps."

"There's a first time for everything."

"Like I said, there's no guarantee."

"If you can manage something, that would be great."

"I'll try. I gotta head home now. I'll talk to you later." she continued to make her way down the stairs.

Logan stayed behind and celebrated silently. Pumping his fists in the air, not caring who saw how ridiculous he looked. He only stopped when he noticed that Amber was being cut off by Ryan. Logan watched as Amber uncomfortably conversated with the teenage boy. He could just tell by how Amber would take a small step back whenever Ryan would get too close. When Ryan suddenly snatched up her wrist and tried to pull her with him, that's when he snapped into action. Storming down the stairs, he quickly moved himself in between the two. "Is there a problem here?" he stood protectively in front of Amber and stared down at Ryan.

"There's no problem." Ryan answered in a shaky voice. "I just wanted to show Amber something."

"But it looks like she doesn't want to go with you and you can't force her."

"Why don't you stay out of this!? It's not any of your business!" Ryan yelled, trying to reach for Amber again.

Logan simply smacked the hand away. "When it involves my friend then it is my business, so back off."

At this point a small crowd was starting to surround them. Ryan's dark eyes darted back and forth between Logan and Amber to the rowdy crowd that was just itching to see a fight. It looked like Ryan couldn't really take it anymore, so he turned and ran for it, pushing through the crowd of teenagers. The crowd groaned when the fight didn't happen and quickly dispersed. Logan sighed and turned to Amber. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Uh... yeah, thanks." she was clearly shaken up.

"Maybe I should walk you home today." Logan suggested, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks." she repeated and they slowly made their way down the sidewalk toward Amber's home.

"So, what was that about just now?" Logan asked cautiously.

"I'm not entirely sure myself." she sighed. "He tried inviting me over to his house all of a sudden. He never did that before. When I refused, he grabbed me. It was kinda terrifying."

Logan took a quick glance behind him, just to make sure that Ryan wasn't following them. "Well, as long as I'm around, then I'll protect you. At least while I'm at school."

She smiled genuinely. "I appreciate it."

They continued to walk in a comfortable silence until they finally made it to Amber's house. "Thanks again for what you did. I'll see you tomorrow." she gave him a quick hug. "And I promise, I'll talk to your 'guardian angel' today, okay."

"Awesome." Logan smiled brightly.

"Be careful going home, okay."

"I will." Logan started his walk home as Amber entered her house.

Once inside she dropped her bag on the floor and sat down on the couch. Her mother wouldn't be back home for another couple of hours, and she had no idea when her father would be home since he's busy looking for a serial killer. After what happened today, though, she really didn't want to be alone in her own home right now. _Maybe Kylie could come over here and I can talk to her then_. She thought. She looked outside, the sun was still shining and there was still a ton of people out on the streets. _It's still way too early for her to be out, but she's a ninja so it shouldn't be too difficult._ She kept questioning what she should do, until finally, her current fear of being alone won over. She quickly dialed her best friend's number and waited.

 **"Hey, girl."** Kylie answered after a couple of rings.

"Hey, listen. We need to talk. Do you think you could come over here?"

Kylie immediately noticed the tone in her best friend's voice. She sounded upset and kind of distressed. **"Like, right now?"** she asked slightly confused. Amber doesn't usually ask for her to come over so early in the day unless there was some sort of emergency.

"Yeah, right now."

 **"Is everything okay?"** Kylie continued asking questions.

"Not really. Could you just come over please?"

 **"Yeah, sure. I'm on my way."** she hung up the phone, leaving Amber alone with her thoughts until she got there.

* * *

 **I think I'll end it here for now.**

 **How will Kylie react to the fact that Logan wants to meet her?**

 **Wait to find out.**


	13. Chapter 12

Time for a new chapter.

* * *

Chapter 12

"Yeah, sure. I'm on my way." Kylie hung up her phone and placed it on the mat next to her where she was sitting in the dojo. She had just finished training with her brother and older cousins and she was helping to clean up when Amber had called. Her mother and father looked up from what they were doing.

"Is everything okay, hon?" Melanie asked.

"I... don't really know. Amber doesn't sound good. Maybe something happened to her. Is it okay if I go see what's up?" she explained. "I promise I'll be careful."

RJ perked up when he heard Amber's name. "I'll go with her, Ma." he quickly offered.

"I don't need you to watch over me, Raphie."

"Actually, I think it's a good idea for him to go with you." Raph said, joining the conversation. "Make sure you stay out of trouble."

"You're saying that like I'm the trouble making twin."

"Hey!" RJ exclaimed.

"Still, I think it's better if someone is there with you." Raph insisted.

"Alright, alright, fine. He can come. I'm sure he only wants to tag along because he wants to keep an eye on his little sister. It's totally not for any other reason." Kylie stated sarcastically, while rolling her eyes, before turning her attention back to her mother and father. "So can I go?"

Raph shrugged. "Go ahead."

"But, of course, make yourselves as invisible as possible. It's still way too early in the day." Melanie said.

"I know, thanks." Kylie stood up and began to make her way out of the dojo. RJ followed close behind.

* * *

Amber paced impatiently in front of her bedroom window, waiting for her best friend to show up. She knew that she was going to show up here like she always does. Amber began to nervously wring her hands to keep them from shaking. A couple minutes later there was a knock on her window. She quickly moved to open it and let her friend in.

Before Kylie could get both feet on her friend's bedroom floor she was immediately engulfed in a hug by the human. She stumbled a bit at the sheer force behind the hug and returned the embrace, she felt her friend shaking in her arms. "Hey Amber, what's going on?" she asked, still a bit confused.

Amber pulled away, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "I just..." she began before RJ climbed in through the window. "RJ?" she asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?" she quickly wiped away her tears before they could fall.

"I just came along to make sure my sister stayed out of trouble." RJ answered simply, avoiding eye contact.

"Oh." Amber responded, sounding disappointed.

Kylie rolled her eyes at her brother's very obvious lie. "Forget him, what's going on? You sounded upset over the phone. You had me worried."

"I know, I'm sorry." Amber sniffled and sat down on her bed. "I've just been going through a lot lately. I think it's starting to get to me, I'm getting paranoid. I just didn't want to be alone."

Kylie sat down next to her. "Tell me what happened."

Amber sighed. "You mean besides one of my friends getting killed and then getting mugged. There is also the fact that some guy at school tried to drag me to his home."

RJ perked up again when he heard this. "What? What guy?" he said with a slight growl in his voice.

Both of the girls looked over to him. Kylie facepalmed and Amber tried her best to hide a smile. "Ignore him, please." Kylie said. "Just explain what happened. Who tried to drag you to his house."

Amber took a deep breath before explaining what happened. "There's this kid at school named Ryan, that no one is particularly fond of. He's considered the really weird kid so everyone kind of avoids him. I was the only one who talked to him and I guess he saw that as me wanting to hang out with him. So, today, when I refused to go home with him, he tried to force me to go with him."

Kylie felt her stomach twisting up in knots. These past couple of weeks have been absolute hell for Amber. So it was understandable that she felt like this. "If it wasn't for Logan then he probably would have gotten what he wanted."

"Who's Logan?" RJ asked. Trying not to let his anger seep into his voice again.

"Logan is a friend of mine. He was also there when I got mugged, he got beat up pretty bad too." RJ looked away from them and crossed his arms, leaving the girls unsure if he was satisfied with that answer. "I kinda owe him after what he did for me today." she finished.

"So this Ryan guy. Is he the reason why you don't wanna be alone right now?" RJ spoke up.

Amber nodded sadly. "I'm sorry guys. I just got so panicked and paranoid. I thought he was gonna get me or something."

Kylie wrapped a comforting arm around her friend's shoulder. "Hey, don't be sorry. That's what your best friend is for. Your best friend..." Kylie brought her voice down to a whisper. "And your future boyfriend."

Amber lightly shoved her friend away from her. Her brown skin getting a slight shade darker in her embarrassment. "I heard that." RJ said and Kylie could see him blushing too.

"You were kinda meant to." Kylie shrugged.

Amber smiled, feeling a lot better than she did a few minutes ago. It was amazing how quickly and easily Kylie was able to change her mood. "Anyway, there is another reason why I called you." She changed the subject to something not involving her and her crush standing in front of her.

"Oh really, and what would that reason be." Kylie laid back on the bed and placed her hands behind her head as she stared at the ceiling.

"Logan, the one that protected me today, wants to meet you, Ky."

Kylie sat up with a start. "What?!"

"Yeah, ever since you saved him from the Purple Dragons, he's been wanting to meet his "guardian angel."

RJ attempted to stifle his laughter, but failed miserably. "An angel, huh? Boy, does he have it all wrong."

Kylie sent a glare toward her brother. "Okay, but how did he know to ask you about me?"

"Apparently, you slipped up a bit and said my name after you saved him. So he kind of put two and two together."

It was RJ's turn to facepalm. "Are you serious, Ky? Why did you do that?"

"I... honestly don't know. I don't even remember saying that." Kylie answered sheepishly.

"Well, that doesn't matter now." Amber stated. "What we have to think about is how to handle the current situation because he will not let this go. He wants... almost needs to meet you."

"But why?"

"I don't know, he said something about wanting to thank you in person. Face to face." Amber shrugged. "I feel like there is more to it, but he claims he just wants to say thanks."

Kylie sighed at the current situation. "Fine, I'll do it."

"Good. So the question is: How do we get you two to meet without actually meeting face to face?" Amber said, trying to come up with some sort of plan. "I know him, but I don't know how he'll act if he sees you."

"Alright, well you let me know when you figure that out, I guess."

"Whoa, whoa, hold on now." RJ said, trying to make sense of what he was hearing. "Don't tell me you're actually going to go through with this."

"Well, yeah. I don't think we have much of a choice right now."

"You know nothing about this guy." RJ may not act like it all the time, but he cares about Kylie and can get real overprotective. With this unidentified killer still roaming around it was really hard for him to trust anybody outside of his family and family friends.

"But I do. Isn't that enough?" Amber asked forcefully.

RJ couldn't help, but be honest. This whole thing seemed strange and he really didn't want to put his sister in any danger even if it is just a possibility. "I'm sorry, but no. For all you know, he isn't all he's cracked up to be. He could be lying to you."

"Logan wouldn't lie to me." Amber said curtly.

Kylie quickly stepped in before the argument could escalate. "Okay, that's enough. Listen Amber, I don't know Logan like you do, so I can't say I trust him either, but I do trust you. So if you say he's a good guy then he's a good guy." Amber crossed her arms and refused to make eye contact with RJ. "And RJ, I know you're worried about me, but I can take care of myself. You forget we were raised by the same family. I'll be fine. I won't reveal myself and he's just thanking me, okay. I owe Amber that much since this is only happening because I said the wrong thing."

"Fine." RJ huffed. "Whatever."

"Thank you." now that the situation was somewhat resolved, she could go back to helping Amber with her current problem. "So what did you have in mind?"

Amber shrugged. "Maybe we can keep it simple. Meet up on the roof. There's a storage shed up there. You can keep yourself hidden from him that way."

"I guess that's as good as it's gonna get. Let's get this over with. Tell him to meet tonight."

"Yeah, I'll call him now and let him know." Amber stood up and stepped out of the room, phone in hand.

"RJ, I hope I don't have to tell you that you can't tell mom and dad about this. I know that they're getting a little protective of me because of everything that's going on and..."

RJ waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah I know." he made for the window, preparing to leave.

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah, you saw her. She's not too happy with me right now. It's better if you stay with her." he opened it and climbed out. "I'll see you later."

"Okay."

Meanwhile just outside the room Amber is talking to Logan about this meeting. " **So, she agreed?** " Logan asked and Amber could hear the excitement in his voice.

"Yeah, she did. She's uh... here now actually."

" **Really?** " Logan sounded surprised. " **Should I come now?** "

"No, not now. Come by at night. I'll make sure she stays here."

" **Oh, um, should I bring something? Flowers maybe**."

Amber shook her head. "No, don't do that. That's not necessary. Just bring yourself."

" **Alright, you got it. I'll see you soon**."

"Later." Amber said before hanging up the phone. She leaned up against the wall and sighed.

The door to her bedroom opened and Kylie was soon standing next to her."So, what did he say?"

"He's gonna be here later on tonight so... do you wanna just hang out here for a while?" Amber suggested, hoping she'd say yes so she wouldn't have to be alone.

"I wasn't planning on really leaving anyway. Not until I knew you were okay."

Amber smiled at her best friend. "Thanks."

"Just doing my job." Kylie smirked.

* * *

Vanessa sat down on a stool at Tasty Delights and waited for her lunch to get ready so she could head back to work. She began messing around in her phone. Looking through news articles and seeing if there were any new details popping up about the city's killer. Just about every online news site was talking about it, so Vanessa thought that maybe there was something in one of these sites that Michael hasn't gotten around to telling them about.

After sifting through the not so accurate sites that were just making up a bunch of nonsense, as they try to capitalize off of a story that they most likely know little to nothing about, Vanessa found something with information that could be useful. In this article, it said that there were two men and one woman, that were involved with some of the victims, they were questioned and they all said the same thing. They all said they had nothing to do with their deaths. They also mentioned that they either had a feeling or knew that their significant others were being unfaithful.

These three people including the boyfriend of the latest victim, who has since been questioned, all essentially saying the same thing. That's too many to be a coincidence. Vanessa's eyes widened as she thought _. If this is true, then that means that this serial killer is going after cheaters. It's not much, but it could help us out. I've gotta ask Michael about this, just to be sure that this is actually true._ Vanessa was so wrapped up in this story that she didn't really notice when someone sat down next to her. "Hey." the person spoke, getting Vanessa's attention.

Vanessa looked up, startled. Sitting there was the same guy that bought her a drink when she was here with her sisters. He ran a hand through his messy brown hair, moving the locks away from his baby blue eyes. "Hello." she said back politely. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes, actually, but first can I get your name?"

Vanessa eyed the young man. "Vanessa." she stated simply. It was just a name. What could it hurt?

"Vanessa, that's a beautiful name for a beautiful young woman." he held out his hand for her to shake. "I'm Trent."

 _Trent huh? Now I remember. This was the same guy that got me that free drink the other day. So that Jamie girl was right, he really does like to flirt with women._ "Uh-huh," she tried to ignore the young man's obvious attempt at flirting and simply shook his hand. "Can I help you with something else?"

The young man blinked in surprise. Obviously, he was used to this working on other women. He quickly switched back to flirt mode. "Well, I was hoping someone as pretty as you would like to get a cup of coffee with me." Vanessa smiled not because she was falling for anything he was saying, it was more like a pity smile. The flirting was flattering sure, but it just didn't have the same affect on her as it would on someone else. Besides, she was still happily married.

"Oh, as in a date?"

"Yeah." he smiled slyly.

"I think I'm a bit too old for someone like you and besides," Vanessa held up her left hand, showing off her engagement and wedding bands. "I'm married."

"Age is just a number, it doesn't matter to me. And your husband doesn't have to know about this." he smirked, waving off the fact that she had a husband.

Vanessa eyed him warily. She wasn't really expecting him to be this forward. She had something to counter this though. "You're right, he doesn't need to know about this and he's not going to know because nothing is going to happen. Unfortunately for you, I love him."

Trent's eyes seemed to darken a bit. It was barely noticeable, but Vanessa caught it. Her hazel eyes locked on to his for a few seconds. Vanessa could tell that he was rather irritated at being rejected. She was used to seeing the look of a man with a bruised ego. He suddenly shrugged. "Alright, you can't blame a guy for trying. I'm sure I'll see you around sometime." he stood up and winked.

"Right." Vanessa said, watching him as he walked away.

* * *

Read and Review


	14. Chapter 13

Thanks AliE96, for the review. It is much appreciated.

* * *

Chapter 13

 _Later on that night._

Kylie and Amber stood up on the roof as they waited for Logan to arrive. "Okay Kylie, he's gonna be here any minute. Are you ready?"

Kylie sighed and crossed her arms as she casually leaned up against the storage shed. "No, not really. I'm only doing this for you, remember."

"I know and I really appreciate it." Amber playfully nudged her friend.

"Yeah, yeah." Kylie smirked and rolled her eyes. "You are so gonna owe me after this."

They stood in a peaceful silence until they heard someone knocking on the door below them. "That's probably him. Get ready."

"Yep." she stated simply and watched her friend climb back down the fire escape.

Once Amber climbed in through the window, she headed toward her bedroom door. She bounded down the stairs only to see her mother had already answered the door and was chatting him up. Logan stood on the stoop in a red button down shirt and a pair of pressed, black pants. His hair was pulled back into his usual low ponytail and he held a single yellow rose. "Hey Mom, I got this." she stopped her mother from the grilling she was most likely giving the teenager.

Jacklyn stepped aside. "Do you have some date that you didn't tell me about?" she asked hands on her hips.

In order to avoid any berating, she quickly answered. "I don't. He's not here to see me." Amber said. "He's here to see... Kylie."

"Kylie!?" Jacklyn asked, surprised. She pulled her daughter off to the side and began whispering. "What mess have you and Kylie gotten into."

Amber nervously scratched the back of her head. "It's a bit of a long story. I promise I'll explain later. Right now, everything is under control. Trust me."

"Um, excuse me." Logan called from the doorway. Amber and Jacklyn looked back to him. "Is it okay if I come in now?"

They locked eyes with each other. Amber nodded to her mother and in response she sighed before putting on a smile. "Of course, hon. Come on in. Sorry to keep you waiting." she invited him inside.

"It's no problem." Logan responded politely. "Thank you, Mrs. Evans."

"Logan," Amber gave an exasperated sigh. "what are you doing with that?" she pointed to the rose in his hand. "I said just bring yourself. She's not really a flower kinda girl."

"I know, but I just couldn't help myself. I felt like I should give her something, you know?"

Amber rolled her eyes. "Yeah sure, come on, she's waiting on you." she grabbed his wrist and led him upstairs to her room. Once inside she opened up the window and began to climb out.

"Where are you going?" he, understandably, asked.

"Do you wanna meet your guardian angel or not?" she answered with another question.

"Well, yeah."

"Then quit asking questions and let's go." she continued out the window.

Logan hesitantly followed her out the window and up the fire escape. Once on the roof, Logan looked around. "Well, where is she?"

"She's here. Remember what I told you. She lives a life of secrecy." she took the flower from him. "I'll give this to her." she made her way over to the storage shed. Peering around the corner, she saw her friend still leaning up against the wall. "Here, he got this for you."

Kylie seemed surprised by this. "Really? He got this for me?"

"Yeah, take it."

She took the yellow rose and inhaled the sweet scent. Amber smiled and turned away. Passing Logan, she looked to him and whispered. "Say what you've gotta say, but don't try to force anything, okay."

"Right. No problem." he took a couple steps forward when Amber climbed back down the fire escape. Once she was out of sight, he spoke up. "Uh hey, I hope you like the rose I got for you." he didn't hear a response so he continued. "Yellow roses are supposed to represent joy, friendship and good health, so I figured it would be a good gift to give you."

"That's... nice." she finally said.

"Ah, she speaks." he teased.

Kylie chuckled a bit. Logan laughed a little with her. He took a couple more steps toward the shed. He didn't know, but Kylie could hear every step he was taking and it was worrying her a bit. She prepped herself to get away, should he try to peek around to get a glimpse of her. "What is it that you want exactly?" she asked.

Logan shoved his hands into his pants pockets. "I just wanted to say thank you for what you did for me and Amber. You really saved us."

"I had help. I only saved you when I realized that Amber was being taken care of." she explained, leaving out any mention of her family.

"Oh, so that's how Amber got out of being kidnapped. I was wondering how that happened." he said, cautiously taking a few more steps. His curiosity getting the better of him. Who was this girl he was talking to? He had to see. He had to know. His shoes lightly scraped against the building's rooftop as he got closer. "Still though, thanks."

"You're welcome." they stood in an awkward silence. Neither of them were really sure what to say. "Was there anything else you wanted to say?"

"No, that was pretty much it." he answered. He took a few more steps toward the storage shed. He was literally right around the corner from the sound of it.

Kylie quickly moved around another corner of the shed so she would still remain out of sight. "Then I should go now."

"Wait, don't..." he panicked a little before stepping around to see nothing. "...go yet."

"Did you really think that I didn't know you were coming?" she asked, taunting. "Word of advice? If you're going to sneak up on someone, try being a little quieter."

"I'll... keep that in mind." he said still a bit thrown off by her small disappearing act. If anything it made him even more intrigued. "Who are you exactly?"

"You don't need to worry about that." she sighed. "In fact, it's best if you don't know."

"Well, can you at least tell me your name?"

"...Kylie." she said after awhile.

"Kylie? That's a nice name. I'm Logan Shelton."

"I know who you are. Amber told me. She told me quite a bit about you."

"And yet I know nothing about you." Logan inquired.

"Like I said, it's best if you don't know anything about me." she said. "Listen, I need to go. Maybe you should too."

"Right. Well, it was nice to sorta meet you, I guess." he said.

"Yeah, you too." she waited until she could no longer hear his footsteps as they treaded along the rooftop toward the fire escape. Once the sound of footsteps were no longer within earshot, she sat down and leaned her head against the shed. "Jeez, that was way more stressful than it needed to be."

Logan slowly climbed back into his friend's bedroom where Amber was sitting and waiting. She stood and headed toward him. "Well, how did it go?"

"I'm not entirely sure honestly. She didn't really say much."

"Yeah, I kind of expected that." Amber said. "So are you satisfied now?"

Logan grinned, Amber could see the mischievous look in his gray eyes. "Not even close. I'm now completely intrigued by her. She has piqued my curiosity."

Amber sighed, now frustrated with her stubborn friend. "Are you serious? You said all you wanted to do was say thanks. You did that. Now, it's time to let this whole thing go."

"Yeah, and I was going to let it go, but I can't. I want to know more about her." He looked to his friend. "And I know you're not going to tell me anything. So, that means that I have to get to know her a little better by talking to her myself."

"Oh no you don't, Logan. You promised that this was going to be a one time thing." Amber whined.

He gave that sly smile again. "I never promised that." he walked out of her room and headed downstairs before Amber could stop him.

As much as she hated to admit it. He was right. They never really promised anything. She kind of just hoped that he would drop the subject after getting what he wanted. She should have known better. She shook her head. "You know what, fine."

Logan gave her friend a questioning gaze "Fine, as in you've given up trying to convince me to let this go? Or fine, as in you're going to help me?"

"Both, but don't blame me if she rejects you."

"I would never do such a thing to you."

"Yeah. Sure." she walked over to the door and opened it, letting him out.

"Thanks for what you did by the way. I know you really didn't want to and I know she didn't really want to either, but I appreciate it."

Amber waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Get outta here."

Logan chuckled. "I'm going, I'm going." he clambered down the steps. "I'll see you at school tomorrow." he quickly headed down the sidewalk.

Amber closed the door and sighed heavily. She turned around to see Kylie, standing there behind her with her arms crossed. Amber squeaked, surprised. "Jeez, don't do that."

"I can't help it. I'm a ninja." Kylie stated. "Now, can you explain to me what I just heard? Why did you agree to help him get to know me?"

"I'm sorry, he's just really persistent." she said. "Once he has his mind set on something, he just can't let it go. And according to him, he was intrigued by you. Whatever you did, impressed him. Listen, all you have to do is stay away from him like you did this time and you should be fine."

"You say that like it's so easy." Kylie said.

"It should be for you, Ms. ninja. And if you don't want him to know about you then all you have to do is keep all info about you as vague as possible."

"What if he doesn't want to stick around if I keep it vague?"

"Then he'll move on to find something or someone else to be intrigued by and he'll leave both of us alone. It's a win win." Amber explained. "At least think about it."

Kylie rolled her eyes and groaned. "Fine, whatever. I gotta go. I'll see you later." she began heading to the closest window that led to an alleyway. She quickly hopped out and made her way back to the rooftop.

Amber shut the window behind her just as her mother stepped out of the kitchen. "Kylie's a really good friend. Since she's willing to help you out this much."

Amber faced her mother and smiled. "I know, Mom. I'm really lucky."

* * *

When Kylie arrived at the lair she was happy to see that there was no one around. Her mother, father, uncles and aunts all probably left for their nightly run. She really didn't want to explain anything to them and she really didn't want to explain why she was holding a flower in her hands.

She didn't really want to think about anyone right now, but, for whatever reason, all she could think about was Logan. Why did he want to see her so bad? Why was he so obsessed? What made her so special? All questions that she asked herself, but there would probably be no answers. At least, that's what she thought.

The door to the lab quickly opened up, startling Kylie out of her thoughts. Kylie hid the yellow rose behind her shell thinking it was Don. She sighed in relief when it was just Danielle. She still kept the rose hidden from view. "Hey Dani."

"Hey Ky, how's Amber doing?" she asked.

"Much better lately." she looked around the lair. "I'm assuming everyone's gone out for their nightly patrol."

"Yeah, they even took Takashi and RJ with them."

"Oh and why are you here then? I thought you would be with them."

"I have been put on babysitting duty. Someone's gotta watch Austin and Malcolm, as well as, our currently concussed cousin." Danielle pointed to the sleeping turtle on a cot in the lab.

"Right. Xavier is still out of commission."

"Yeah, according to Uncle Don and Aunt Vanessa... so whatcha got there?" the brunette turtle asked innocently, referring to what Kylie was hiding behind her.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." Kylie began to take a few steps back, away from her younger, nosy cousin. "I'm gonna head up to my room."

Danielle cocked her head to side and eyed her curiously. There was no way she was going to let this go. "But I wanna worry about it." she closed the gap between her and her cousin. "Let me worry about it."

"There's really no need to." she shifted her weight as Danielle tried to take a peek over her shoulder.

"What is it? You can't keep this from me forever, you know. I will find out eventually." Danielle said. "So you might as well tell me now."

"I think Xavier is calling for you, Dani."

"No, I'm not." Xavier's gravely voice spoke from the doorway of the lab. He still looked groggy and exhausted as he leaned heavily against the door frame.

Danielle quickly moved over to him, helping him stand up straight. "What are you doing up?"

"It's kinda hard to get any rest with you two bickering right outside the door." Xavier muttered, annoyed. He began to rub his aching head.

"Sorry about that, cuz. We should've been a little more considerate." Danielle apologized.

Kylie attempted to turn around and walk away while they were chatting. "Don't worry about it. What were you guys talking about anyway?" Xavier took the attention off of him. Letting his curiosity get the better of him.

"I was just wondering what Kylie was hiding." The two younger cousins looked to Kylie as she continued to walk away. "Hold on Ky, I seriously want to know what you're trying to keep from us."

"I am also pretty curious now." Xavier added.

Kylie sighed. She began to weigh her options. She could ignore them and make a run for it to her room and hide the rose, but the questions would most likely continue, or she could stop the questions now, explain everything and risk them telling everyone else. She really didn't want to bother with the constant aggravation that option one would bring, so option two would have to do. "Fine, I'll tell you." she slowly revealed the sunny yellow rose to them.

Danielle gasped. "Where'd you get that?"

"Some guy." Kylie said dismissively.

"Some guy?" Xavier inquired. "What guy?"

"A guy that you don't need to worry about because we're hopefully not going to see each other again."

"Hopefully? So you're not even sure if you're going to see him again or not." Xavier was clearly not convinced.

"It's not like I want to." Kylie groaned.

"Then why are you?" Danielle mentioned.

"I'm doing it for Amber."

"Okay, I think you need to start from the beginning. Explain everything."

Kylie sighed before she started telling them everything. From saving Logan's life, to him wanting to meet, to what's going on now. "Wow." Xavier said. "Leave it to you to get caught up in something like this."

"You know we're not really supposed to be around other humans right now. With that killer running amok, everyone's kinda paranoid." Danielle explained.

"I know, I know." Kylie said exasperated.

" You are so dead when Uncle Raph and Aunt Melanie find out about this." Xavier chuckled at his cousin's current misfortune.

"Well, they're not going to find out because you guys are going to keep this between us, right?" she asked nervously.

"I don't know Ky..." Danielle said, unsure.

"Come on, this won't take long. I'm going to make him so bored of me that he'll never want to see me again. We won't ever have to bring him up."

"Well, I'll keep quiet. Just because I wanna know what happens next." Xavier shrugged.

"How about you, Dani?"

Danielle thought about this. "I'm not sure I want to be a part of this."

"Hey, you wanted to know what I was hiding. The least you can do is keep quiet now that you know."

"I can't even tell Takashi."

"Especially not him. You know he's not really good at lying. I'll be outed in a heartbeat. I can handle this, I promise."

Danielle looked between Kylie and Xavier and groaned inwardly. "Alright fine."

Kylie let out a relieved breath "Thanks guys, I promise you have nothing to worry about."

* * *

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	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

 **? POV**

I stared at the ceiling as I laid in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room, next to my new target. She lay peacefully by me, sleeping soundly. Her blonde hair falling gently in soft curls behind her. Her tanned skin was warm to the touch as I ran my fingers along her lithe frame.

I sat up in bed and shook my head. She was beautiful, but she needed to go. I can't have someone like her roaming the streets. She needs to be dealt with. I got up out of bed and began putting my clothes back on. As I pulled my shirt over my head, I heard my target begin to stir. "You're leaving already, Rich." her voice was soft and smooth.

I put on my best fake smile before turning to her. She was looking up at me with her innocent, big, blue eyes. "You know I have to, Jade." I said. I walked over to the coat rack to grab my jacket and baseball cap and put them on. I quickly pat the pocket to make sure my ice pick was still there. I pulled out a pair of black leather gloves and put them on as well.

"Do you really have to? Jordan won't be back for a while."

I rolled my eyes in disgust. "I'm afraid so. I've got things I need to take care of." I slowly slid the ice pick out of my pocket.

"Can't you stay a bit longer? I don't want to be alone."

I slowly walked over to her side of the bed, keeping the ice pick out of her sight. "That can't happen."

She poked out her bottom lip ever so slightly as she pouted. Her pouting face made her look even more attractive than before in my opinion, which in turn, made me despise her even more. "Why not?" she whined.

I reached up and gently caressed her cheek with my free hand. I got closer to her until our lips were just inches apart. At the last moment, I moved and whispered in her ear. "Because I want nothing more to do with you." before she could get any other words out, I brought out the ice pick and quickly shoved the pointed end into her abdomen.

She looked up into my eyes, shock and pain very evident. "You-" I knew then and there that she realized who I was. I pulled the ice pick out and rammed it back in.

I pushed her back down onto the pillows and proceeded to repeat the same action over and over, relishing in her life essence pouring from her body and staining the sheets. Tears fell from her blue eyes and I just couldn't help, but laugh at her. She has the nerve to cry after what she's done. Pathetic. "You had someone that trusted you." I watched as her dying body quivered. "Someone that loved you." I punctured another hole in her worthless body. Blood poured from her mouth as she tried to breathe. "And you threw that all away." another wound from my pick. "I hope it was worth it." I stabbed her in the chest. Her mouth opened as she gagged and choked on her own blood.

Soon, her body stopped moving and her eye color began fading. Tearing the blood soaked ice pick from her flesh, I got up off the bed and stuffed the ice pick back in my pocket. I headed toward a window and climbed out to avoid any possible street cameras in the front of Jade's apartment.

I put away my leather gloves before pulling out my phone and making a call. "Hey." I said when the other person picked up. "It's done. Where are you?" I waited for an answer. "Okay, I'm on my way." I shoved my phone back in my pocket and made my way through the dark alleyway. Once I was close to the exit, I began looking for my ride.

A noise off to the side grabbed my attention. There was a stray dog digging through the trash. It must have caught a whiff of me because it pulled its head out of the garbage and began growling at me. It was sort of blocking my exit out of the alley. "Outta my way, you mangy mutt." it answered by growling and barking, bearing its sharp teeth at me.

I shook my head and began making my way out. The stray suddenly pounced, its teeth latching onto my arm. "AH! You son of a-" I effectively kicked the mutt away. It whimpered, shook its head and came back for more. This time it got a hold of my jacket as I turned to try and run. I tried to pull away, but the mutt held firm. When I did manage to get free, I heard the sound of my jacket ripping. Damn it. I had to go, I was wasting too much time. I cradled my arm close to my body, making sure I wasn't leaving behind a trail, as I ran out of the alley. I looked back to see the mutt had stopped following , but was still barking and growling.

I desperately looked for my ride as I attempted to at least slow the bleeding with what was remaining of my jacket. The black sedan was waiting for me just a little further up the street. I made it and quickly climbed inside stunned and out of breath. My arm was throbbing as the red fluids seeped through my jacket.

"What the hell happened to you?" my accomplice asked from the spot in the driver's seat.

"There's a dog in that alley back there. It attacked me." I opened up the glove compartment and pulled out some napkins to soak up some of the blood. "Really territorial."

"Jeez, we need to get that taken care of." my accomplice stated.

"No, I'll be fine. You gotta get in there and clean that mess up. Her fiance will be home soon."

"Alright, alright. Sit tight and don't die on me." my accomplice reached into the backseat for a spare towel. "Wrap this around your arm for now. At least slow down the bleeding."

"Fine, now go." I ordered.

My accomplice stepped out of the car, face covered by a large hat, grabbed all the cleaning items and headed toward the apartment.

I leaned back in my seat and winced. I kept pressure on my arm. At least things couldn't get much worse. The problem was dealt with and if the only thing I get out of it is a dog bite, then so be it.

* * *

Vanessa and Sierra stepped into the police station, searching for Michael. There were a lot of people milling about as everyone was kept busy. "Seems rough in here." Sierra mentioned.

"Yeah, seems like it." Vanessa said while scanning the station. "Come on, let's hurry this up. The others are waiting." she began to make her way to Mike's empty desk. His desk was generally tidy aside from a few piles of folders filled with paper work. Vanessa was tempted to look through it, but resisted.

They patiently waited when Mike's partner, Henry, showed up, looking confused at the two women. "Hello ladies, can I help you?"

"We're here to see Michael Evans. We're friends of his."

"Oh." he held out his hand for a handshake. "I'm Henry, his partner."

Vanessa shook his hand. "Oh yeah, Mike told me about you."

Henry eyed them. "Unfortunately, Michael is a bit busy." he stated vaguely.

"Do you happen to know when he'll be available? It's kind of important." Sierra asked.

"Sorry, I don't. This lady killer is keeping us all on our toes." he picked up a few files off Mike's desk.

Vanessa and Sierra looked at each other for a second before looking back to Henry. "Right, of course. Do you mind telling him to give us a call when he can?" Sierra asked innocently.

"Sure, no problem. What are your names?"

"I'm Vanessa and this is my sister Sierra." she introduced with a small smile.

"No problem, I'll let him know."

"We appreciate it." Sierra said as she and Vanessa walked away. Once they made it outside, they climbed the fire escape where everyone else was waiting.

"Well?" Raph asked.

"We'll have to wait and see. We couldn't get a hold of Mike so we asked his partner to have him call us." Sierra said as she easily caught her sword that Leo tossed to her.

"Hopefully, he'll get back to us soon." Vanessa took her tessen from Don's belt and sheathed them at her hip. "For now, let's get going."

"Right. We'll split up tonight." Leo ordered. "Sierra, Mikey, Paige and Takashi you're with me. We're checking out the east side. Raph, Mel, Don, Vanessa and RJ head west. We'll meet back here in a few hours." everyone nodded in agreement. "Vanessa, if Mike calls back, keep us updated."

"You got it." Vanessa said.

"Let's go already." Raph and RJ said at the same time. Father and son were getting antsy. They wanted to find some lowlifes and take them out. RJ moreso than his father. After what happened at Amber's house, he found it hard to hide his annoyance. Something his mother noticed immediately.

"Alright, alright we're going." Melanie said and their group took off.

Leo's group watched as Raph and the others left. "Shall we head out." Mikey said.

"Yes, let's." Sierra said. She looked over to her son who was crouched down by the edge of the building. "Come on T, we're going."

"Hold on," something had caught Takashi's attention. "Something's going on down there."

The adults followed him to the edge where a few police officers and Henry were exiting the station. "That's Mike's partner." Sierra said pointing to the bearded man. "He's on the Lady Killer case as well."

"I guess he's going solo for now." Paige added.

"If he's on the case too, then that means..." Leo started.

"We got a call from a woman's fiance." one of the officers explained. "He came home to find her dead."

"Same MO?"

"Yes sir."

"Looks like we've got another one." Paige said.

"Should we follow them?" Takashi asked.

Leo responded by pulling out a small device and throwing it at Henry's vehicle. It landed securely on the rim right before it took off. "Let's go."

Using a watch on his wrist he tracked Henry's car to the destination. "He's heading downtown."

They eventually came to a stop at an apartment building. Police swarmed the place. Police tape blocked off the entrance to the apartment. Henry was about to head inside when one of the officers stopped him.

"Sir, we found this in the alley next to the building." the officer held out a plastic bag with a cell phone inside. The cell had blood on it as well as a large crack on the screen. "Could be our guy's."

"Great," Henry took the phone and placed it in the bag that he was carrying. "I'll take it to the station, see if one of our tech guys can fix it. And have forensics check to see who's blood it belongs to. If we're lucky, it won't just be the victim's."

The officer nodded and headed off to scout around the area some more.

Henry finally stepped inside to get a look at the crime scene.

"Seems the Lady Killer finally got a little sloppy." Sierra said.

"Maybe Mike will actually have a breakthrough with this case." Paige mentioned.

"Come on, there's too many people here. We'll leave the rest to them." The Hamatos took off, leaving the police work to the experts.

* * *

Raph's group came to a stop at the sound of a commotion coming from the streets. They all looked over the edge of the building they were standing on to see. Purple Dragons running amok. Breaking windows of cars, spray painting buildings, some were robbing a store. It was a mess. Without missing a beat, they all hopped down to ground level. "I call the ones robbing the store." RJ said.

RJ quickly sprinted to the store as two of them came out carrying bags of money whatever else they could find in there. RJ roundhouse kicked the first one away and took the second one out with a high knee to the jaw.

RJ removed his daggers from their sheaths and prepared himself as two more exited the store. He blocked an attack from a dragon that held a metal pipe. RJ saw the dragon's buddy approach from the side, aiming for his weak spot with a knife.

Thinking quickly, RJ snatched the pipe wielding gang member by the collar and turned so the knife wielder would be aiming for his buddy's back instead. RJ decided that one of two things would happen, either he's going to hurt his friend or he would stop his pursuit. Luckily, the latter happened, the Purple Dragon momentarily froze in his spot giving RJ the opportunity to give a strong kick to the one he was holding. He toppled into the knife wielder and they fell to the ground in a heap.

A chain suddenly wrapped around his wrist and he turned to see another Purple Dragon at the other end. RJ planted his feet firmly on the ground, dropped his dagger and latched onto the chain. He pulled on the chain bringing the Purple Dragon closer to him. In one fluid motion, RJ hip tossed him and he landed on top of another dragon that was fighting his mother.

All the Purple Dragons were down at that point and everyone began rounding them up. "That was fun." RJ stated. "Let's go find more." before anyone could say anything to him, he made his way back to the rooftop.

"What's up with him?" Don asked.

"You noticed it too?" Melanie asked.

"Kinda hard to miss." Vanessa stated. "He seems a bit more aggressive than usual."

"Really?" Raph said, genuinely confused. "I didn't notice anything different."

Melanie rolled her eyes. "Of course you didn't."

RJ took a peek over the edge of the building where he was waiting. "Come on, let's go." he called down to them. Don and Vanessa climbed to the rooftop.

"Go get your son." Melanie teased.

"Oh, so he's just my son now?" Raph teased back.

"When he acts like you, yes." Melanie playfully stuck out her tongue at him and followed everyone else.

Raph thought for second. "He's not that much like me, is he?" he shook his head and met up with the rest of the group.

* * *

 **New chapter is finally up. I thought I'd give you a little bit of the killer's perspective because he is a big part of the story, but at the same time, I didn't want to reveal too much.**

 **Let me know what you think.**


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

? POV

I sat on an armchair re-wrapping my arm in fresh bandages as my accomplice paced nervously in front of me. "I can't believe you lost your phone. All of your information is there. You'll be outed for sure." my accomplice said, letting the panic set in. I shrugged and continued wrapping up my arm. My accomplice stopped pacing and gave me an odd look. "You are way too calm right now. Shouldn't you be a little bit worried?"

I looked up at my accomplice with calm smile. "Trust me, everything is handled."

"For your sake, I hope you're right."

* * *

It had been a few days since the last killing and people have been spending less time on the streets at night. It was weird how the city that never sleeps suddenly became so quiet. Vanessa was at the hospital working the graveyard shift. It was rare for her to get a moment of peace, so she hung around the nurse's station with a few other nurses. "This whole Lady Killer thing is terrifying. I can't even think about going outside without feeling like he's going to get me." a young, blonde haired nurse said.

"Haven't you been paying attention to the news Becca." a male nurse said. "The guy isn't going around grabbing girls off the street. He's being invited into these women's homes and that's where he kills them." he put his stethoscope around his pale neck as he spoke. He ran a hand through his short black hair.

"What news said that, Matt?" Becca cried.

"Mostly internet news sites." Matt answered with a small shrug.

"Well, you can't always trust those."

"It's the only info available." Clara, the nurse station secretary, said. "The police aren't really giving us anything."

"Well then that makes it worse." Becca whined. "You mean I can't invite people over for fear that I'll be inviting a killer in."

"I think it's a bit more complicated than that."

"What else is there?" Becca asked.

"Not sure." Matt said, with an amused glint in his hazel eyes. "But you can bet it's nothing good." he teased as he traced his finger along the back of her neck.

Becca gave a frightened yelp at the unexpected contact. She lightly swatted Matt's arm, while he and Clara laughed at her expense. "You guys suck." she whined.

Vanessa shook her head as she listened to the conversation. _So, Matt has been going through internet sites too._ she thought. He _hasn't found the info I have, so maybe what I have is no good._ "What do you think about all this, Vanessa." Becca asked.

"There isn't much for me to think about." she shrugged, deciding to keep any information she did know away from her co-workers. "I don't really invite people to my place all that often, so I don't really have to worry about that. All I can do is hope that the police find this guy soon."

"Do you think they'll catch this guy?" Matt said.

"Like I said, I can only hope."

The phone to the unit rang and Clara picked up. She was on for a couple of seconds before hanging up and turning to the three nurses. "Vanessa, the front desk called and said you have a visitor waiting for you."

"Oh really?" Vanessa said, wondering who it could be. "Becca, do you mind covering me for a bit?"

"Sure, no problem."

"Thanks, I'll be right back." she hurried down to the main floor of the hospital, to the front desk. Michael was there looking exhausted. "Hey Mike, what's up?" she greeted with a short hug.

"Can we talk somewhere private? This is important."

"Sure." Vanessa led Mike to an empty break room. "What's going on?"

"We think we might have some evidence that could help us with this case."

Vanessa gave him her full attention. "Really? What is it?"

Michael reached into his bag and pulled out a plastic baggie with a cell phone in it. "It's most likely the culprit's, but it's not working. We tested the blood that was on it and it was only the victim's, so that didn't really help. Our only hope is that there is something on this phone." he handed the bag to Vanessa and continued. "But our guys couldn't figure out what was wrong. I convinced Henry to let me take a look at it before deeming it completely useless and when I say 'I'll take a look' I really mean..."

"Donnie." Vanessa finished.

"Yes, please."

"Getting desperate, are we?"

"You have no idea." he ran a hand over his bald head. "Obviously, you can't tell anyone about me getting you involved in an investigation like this.

Vanessa rolled her eyes at him. "Well duh, I think I know the drill by now." She fit the bag in the pocket of her scrubs. "I'm sure Don will gladly help."

"Thank you, V. I don't mean to bother you." Michael rubbed his tired eyes.

"You're not a bother, Mike. We've got your back. You can rely on us more. Why do you think we've been patrolling more than usual? To relieve some of the stress on the police. That way you can focus on the killer." Vanessa explained.

"I know, I know." he stated tiredly. "By the way, everyone at the station is grateful for the extra help in stopping the gang activity. Well... mostly everyone."

Vanessa crossed her arms. "I'm assuming these few people don't like vigilantes."

"'Don't like' is putting it mildly." Mike said. "They don't see what you're doing as helping. They see it as people serving justice in their own way and that is just not okay to them. It's almost like they're taking offense to what you're doing because you're doing their job for them."

"Oh well, I'm sure this isn't the first time."

"Oh no, absolutely not. This hate for vigilante justice has been going on for years."

Vanessa shrugged. "Whatever, we're still going to do it. Not just to help you guys, but to get some exercise. Now, did you find out anything else?"

"No." Mike said with a shake of his head.

"Not even street cam footage?"

"No, and that's the weird part."

"What do you mean?"

"I looked over the footage and there was nothing there. Not a single soul shows up on screen from any angle."

Vanessa raised a curious eyebrow. "How is that possible?" she wondered.

"It's possible someone tampered with the street cams. We're looking into it."

"And just in case, I'll have Don look too."

"Okay, thanks."

"Now, get outta here and get some sleep. You look like hell."

Mike gave a hearty laugh. "Gee thanks." he started to leave.

Vanessa stopped him. "Oh wait, I need to ask you something." he turned back to her. "Did your partner ever tell you to call us when we came by the station a few days ago?"

Michael shook his head. "No, he didn't, but he probably forgot." he shrugged. "The killer hit again that day, didn't he?"

"Yeah, that's fair."

"What did you need?"

"I just wanted to know if it was true that the killer is going after people who cheat." she asked.

"With the testimonies we've gotten from some of the victim's significant others, it's most likely the case. So far that's all I've been able to figure out." Mike sighed. "How did you find out about that?"

"Online article." Vanessa answered swiftly. "I questioned the validity of it, so I figured I'd ask you about it."

Michael rubbed the back of his neck. "No one should really know about that. I haven't confirmed it."

"Sorry." Vanessa apologized. "Will you get in trouble because of this?"

"Probably not. Unfortunately, leaks happen." he sighed again. "I'll worry about that later. For now, just see if Donnie can figure that out." he pointed to the damaged phone.

"Sure, no problem."

Mike left the break room and then the hospital while Vanessa headed back upstairs to her unit. She quickly ducked into the locker room, opened her locker and stuffed the phone in her bag before getting back to work.

* * *

When Vanessa got home that morning she immediately went to her husband in the lab. Xavier was sitting up on the cot while Don checked him over. "Any dizziness, headaches?"

"Not dizzy and only a slight headache." the teen answered honestly.

"Still showing signs of a concussion." he shook his head.

"But it's not that bad." Xavier whined. "If I have to spend another day doing nothing then I'm gonna lose it."

Don affectionately pat his son's head. "It's for your own safety."

"Listen to your father, sweetie." Vanessa said.

Xavier groaned and lied back down.

"Hey Donnie, I got something for you." she pulled out the plastic baggie that was holding the phone. Don took it from her and examined it. "It's the phone they found in the alley next to the apartment of the latest victim. Mike's guys can't seem to get it to work. He thought that maybe you could help."

Xavier quickly sat up in bed. "I'll do it." he volunteered.

Don and Vanessa both looked to their kid, quizzically. "What? I'm bored, I need to do something. If I can't train, then at least let me take care of this."

Don sighed. "Alright, alright, here you go." he handed the phone over. "Don't strain yourself. If the headache gets worse, then stop."

"I know, I know." Xavier waved them off and got to work.

Vanessa turned to Don. "In the meantime, why don't you check out the street cameras? There wasn't anything or anyone showing up on screen at the time of the murder."

"That's odd."

"Yeah, it is." she looked between her husband and her son. "While the two of you are working. I'm gonna get some sleep."

* * *

Amber waited at a lunch table for Logan to arrive. He had called her last night and asked to meet up to discuss another get together between him and Kylie. "Hey Amber." he greeted.

"Hey, there you are." Amber said with a smile. She looked down and noticed Logan's arm wrapped in white bandages. "What did you do to your arm?"

Logan looked down at it as well, as if he just noticed it. He pulled down the sleeve of his shirt to cover it up. "Oh, I stupidly leaned on a stove... and I didn't notice it was on." he said sheepishly. He quickly waved his hand, dismissing the issue. "Anyway, enough about that. Let's talk about Kylie."

Amber giggled. "Alright, alright, what do you want to know?"

"Well, first is she willing to meet up again?" Logan asked.

"She doesn't really want to, in all honesty." she shrugged. "She's really only doing this because I asked."

"I do appreciate it... so, you've known her a long time, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah, since I was about eight years old. We immediately clicked as kids and have been friends ever since."

"Cool, what is she like?" he asked, interested.

"Well, she's a bit of an introvert like me. She prefers to stay inside and watch movies or TV. She can be pretty overprotective of me and her family, which is why she won't show herself to you." Amber explained.

"She only goes out to beat up random gang members."

"Sort of. I'll let her explain that... if she wants to." she said. "Anyway, she agreed to meet tonight. Same time, same place."

"Awesome."

* * *

Later that night, Kylie and Amber waited in Amber's room until Logan arrived.

"Where has your mom been lately? I feel like I haven't seen her in a while." Kylie asked.

"She's been teaching night school classes, so she's been coming home later than usual."

"So you're home alone a lot more?"

"Yeah, and I don't really like it." Amber shuddered. "Especially now."

Kylie noticed the shudder and sat down next to her best friend. "What's going on now?"

"I'm not sure, honestly. I just feel like someone has been watching me when I leave school." another shudder ran through her. "I might just be paranoid, but I just can't help this feeling."

"You haven't been walking home alone, have you?" Kylie asked, nervously.

"No, Logan's been walking with me." she then waved it off, dismissing the issue. "It's probably nothing. Don't worry about it." she changed the subject. "So, fair warning, Logan may be asking you a bunch of pretty personal questions."

"Oh, great." Kylie facepalmed.

"Don't worry, all you have to do is keep it vague remember... if you want to, that is."

"I don't really have a choice. I can't let him know about me or my family."

"I know, but Logan's a good guy. If you want to trust him, I think you can." Amber stated firmly.

Kylie thought about this for a while. Amber is her best friend, so if she could trust anyone it would be her, but Kylie still felt like she needed to make that decision for herself. "Look, I get it okay. You trust him, but this" she pointed to her face. "is a completely different issue. He thinks I'm just a vigilante human. He doesn't know I'm a mutant."

"Once he gets to know you..."

"I'd rather not take that chance."

Amber sighed. "Okay."

Kylie eyed her friend. The door bell rang and Amber got up to answer. "That's probably him." she looked as Kylie headed toward the window. She went downstairs and opened the door revealing a slightly less formal looking Logan and in his hand he held another yellow rose. "Really?" Amber asked referring to the rose.

"What? She liked it last time." Logan shrugged. "She's here?"

"Yeah, come on." she quickly led him upstairs. As expected, Kylie was already gone, waiting up on the roof. The open window was a dead giveaway. They both climbed out to the fire escape and up to the roof. Amber held out her hand for the rose. "I'll give it to her." He handed it over to her and she walked over to the storage shed. Kylie stood in her usual position, leaning up against the shed with her arms crossed. "Here ya go."

"Another one?"

"Yep, good luck. Remember, keep it vague."

"Right."

Amber walked away, leaving her two friends alone. Logan stepped forward toward the shed. "Don't even think about it. Stay right where you are."

"I wasn't going to try to look this time." he stated quickly when he realized what she was talking about. "I just wanted to stand closer so I could hear you better." he sat down near the shed.

Kylie sniffed the flower and spoke. "What do you want me to talk about?"

"I just want to know about you."

"There isn't much to tell." Kylie shrugged.

Logan wracked his brain for something to talk about. He was interested in this mystery girl, but he didn't want to scare her off by asking too many questions. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Oh, so you are in high school. What school do you go to?"

"... I'm home schooled." she stated simply.

"What do you normally do for fun?"

"Is this going somewhere?" Kylie asked, annoyed.

Logan, sensing her annoyance, spoke up. "I just wanted to get to know you better. That's all. I swear, I'm not trying to be too intrusive."

"Why do you need to know about me?" Kylie asked, calming herself down.

"You saved my life. Wouldn't you like to get to know the person that saved you?"

She would, but she wasn't going to say that out loud. "You don't know. Anything I say could be a lie. I could be a danger to you and you'd never know."

"You're Amber's friend. I trust her and I know her. She doesn't hang out with dangerous people." he ran a hand through his brown hair."And you don't know me either. I could be a danger to you."

Kylie thought for a second. "Well, I also trust her."

"See, we're in the same boat."

"That and I watched you get your ass kicked by Purple Dragons, so you seem harmless to me."

Logan laughed out loud. "They are just no threat to you, huh."

"No, not really."

"Where did you learn to fight like that anyway? Fighting in the shadows, almost like..."

"A ninja." Kylie finished.

"Yeah." he said happily. Kylie could hear the giddiness in his voice and smiled. "It was so cool. It was like you barely broke a sweat." The compliments he was dishing out kind of took her by surprise, but she didn't let it show... "I just think you're amazing." ...until he said that and she immediately started blushing.

She cleared her throat. "As flattering as that is, it's still best if you don't know about me."

Logan paused. "Well, I still want to talk to you... if that's okay. And maybe even meet face to face." he said, hopefully. "Someday."

Kylie thought about it for a minute. He seemed pretty trustworthy, but she still didn't know anything about him. "...Maybe."

"If you feel like you can't trust me with your identity then how about I start by telling you about me. Will that make you feel better?"

"...Maybe."

"Try it out. What have you got to lose?"

"My trust in people and my safety." she said honestly, but to Logan she was just as cryptic as ever. Making her even more intriguing to him.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it. I'd better go."

"Okay, can I talk to you again?"

Kylie chuckled. "...Maybe."

Logan laughed a little at that. "I look forward to it." he said a little huskier than normal. That didn't go unnoticed. He stood and went back to the fire escape. He climbed back in through Amber's window with a huge smile on his face.

"That was fast. How'd it go?" Amber asked.

"Better than last time. She actually did more talking."

"Really?"

"Yeah, maybe next time she'll open up to me more. We even talked about meeting face to face."

Amber didn't bother to hide her shock. "Really?" she repeated.

"Yep."

"She actually said she would reveal herself to you?" she questioned.

"Well no, I just casually brought it up and she said maybe. Which isn't a no."

"And it's not a yes either. I just don't want you to get your hopes up."

"I get it. She likes her privacy and if she doesn't want to show herself, then that's her decision and I'll respect it." he grinned. "But until I get an actual no, I'm not gonna stop trying."

Amber rolled her eyes. "Get outta here." she said jokingly, pointing to her door.

"Okay, okay." he walked out, leaving her alone.

Seconds later, after the front door closed, Kylie climbed through the window. "I heard you did a bit more talking tonight."

"Yeah, it wasn't much though." Kylie shrugged, twirling the rose between her fingers.

"So are you planning on letting him see you?" Amber asked curiously.

Kylie smirked. "...Maybe."

"Oh come on, Kylie. Tell me."

"I don't know. We'll see. I still don't know much about him, remember . I'm not gonna risk anything right now."

"Alright, but can you at least tell me ahead of time if you're going to do it?'

Kylie rolled her eyes and smiled. "Yeah, yeah whatever. I'm out." she climbed back out the window and headed for home.

* * *

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